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Longer runways could attract more business
By Molly Parker
Staff Writer
The improvements planned for The Charleston International Airport aren’t just for the flying public.
Mary Graham, senior vice president of public policy for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, said growing the region’s aviation cluster will require looking at the corridor that includes the airport, the Charleston Air Force Base, which owns the runways, and the nearby
Vought-Global Aeronautica assembly facility that is building fuselage sections for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
“We view that as our aviation cluster, and we need to look at that whole complex as part of the economic development activity of the region, and we need to (consider in the) long term, what do we want that piece to look like?” Graham said.
Keeping the current aeronautical base and growing it in the future depends, in part, on extending the length of the airport’s two runways to support larger cargo planes, she said.
The Air Force is expected to spend $30 million next year overhauling the shorter 7,000-foot runway, and the aviation authority and chamber are searching for ways to pay for a 2,000-foot extension, which could cost an additional $30 million, Graham said.
The Air Force doesn’t need a longer strip to support the C-17 Globemaster III, but some industrial planes do need the extra length, particularly in this climate, Graham said, so the extension could be an important factor in attracting new business.
The Air Force is also looking at refurbishing the longer 9,000-foot runway strip by 2012, at
which time the aviation authority would like to have secured funding to stretch that piece to at least 10,500 feet.
Extending the runway also could help lure direct international flights into the Charleston airport, she said.
“All of that needs to be looked at together,” she said,” in figuring out our long-term vision for the airport in that area.”
Molly Parker is a reporter at the Business Journal. E-mail her directly at mparker@setcommedia.com.
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