West Virginia International Yeager Airport’s plan to extend its runway might be on hold, but an abundance of other construction projects are either planned or ready to get underway, CRW officials said during a news media tour of the Charleston airport Monday.
In March, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a pause on an environmental impact study that began in October 2023 on the airport’s plan to extend its runway to 7,000 feet and add safety overrun zones on each end. The plan would require constructing a massive fill structure across neighboring Coonskin Park.
FAA puts Yeager runway extension plan study on hold
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered that work on an Environmental Impact Study for West Virginia International Yeager Airport’s long-planned runway extension project to be put on hold.
The pause in the environmental impact statement process allows the airport to conduct additional planning on the runway extension project, “which may result in changes to the original airfield plan submitted for the EIS,” said Dominique Ranieri, the airport’s director and CEO.
While the airport’s plan to extend the runway may be on hold, “it’s not dead,” she said.
West Virginia International Yeager Airport
Dominique Ranieri, director & chief executive officer of West Virginia International Yeager Airport, speaks Monday, July 22, 2024, about new developments the airport is undertaking in the next few months.
Big plans, if the airport gets a big federal grant
Meanwhile, CRW is applying to tap into the FAA’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-Airport Terminal Program‘s $5 billion pool of funds for modernizing and renovating aging airport passenger facilities. If the Charleston airport’s proposal in the competitive process is approved, a grant would be awarded this fall, construction would begin next spring and the project would be completed within three years.
West Virginia International Yeager Airport
At West Virginia International Yeager Airport, passengers stand in line inside the terminal to board a Breeze Airlines flight to Myrtle Beach on Monday, July 22, 2024.
CRW would use the grant to, among other things:
* Build a new Transportation Security Administration checkpoint
* Make all three boarding wings capable of accommodating the larger commercial aircraft now serving the airport
* Improve concessions, restaurant and restroom facilities
* Make all portions of the 77-year-old terminal building compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards
Expansion project to begin this summer
Construction is already funded and set to begin later this summer on the $5.1 million first phase of expanding the parking apron at the general aviation/ Marshall University flight school portion of the airport. Increased MU flight school operations and increased staging of non- Air National Guard military aircraft for area training exercises are the main drivers for seeking the added parking space.
West Virginia International Yeager Airport
Four Cirrus SR20 single-engine trainers undergo maintenance inside Marshall University’s Bill Noe Flight School hangar on Monday, July 22, 2024 at West Virginia International Yeager Airport.
Marshall’s Board of Governors has approved building a second hangar at CRW to accommodate the increased number of aircraft expected to be added to the Bill Noe Flight School fleet. The training fleet now includes six Cirrus SR20 single-engine aircraft, with a seventh expected to arrive in August; one twin-engine Piper Seminole; and an Airbus H125 turbine helicopter.
MU flight school, based at Yeager Airport, takes delivery of first training helicopter
Marshall University’s Bill Noe Flight School will soon begin providing students instruction in rotary aircraft flight after taking delivery of an Airbus H-125 single-engine turbine helicopter on Monday.
The new hangar will be more than twice as big as the existing 12,000-square-foot building.
CRW officials said Monday that construction of a new charging station to serve electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is expected to begin this fall adjacent to the MU flight school’s classroom building. The charging station will be one of 150 similar stations nationwide expected to be operational by the end of next year, according to the Vermont-based firm.
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