Says It Would Conflict With Crucial Military Aircraft Training And Support

Official at Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, VA (KORF) had proposed to build a second runway parallel to its existing runway to support growth at the civilian airport. But the Navy says "no".

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Navy Rear Admiral Charles W. Rock sent a letter to airport commissioner Blyth Ann Scott saying that a second runway would lead to "conflicts with crucial military aircraft training support to Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC), training that cannot be replicated at any other installation in Hampton Roads."

Admiral Rock specifically mentioned a helicopter training facility and ordnance storage at the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.

Norfolk is updating its 20-year airport master plan, which is crucial for applications for AIP grants. The airport forecasts that it will see an additional 1 million passengers each year by 2038. But in 2016, the FAA told the airport authority that it did not believe that a second runway was necessary to accommodate the growth. The airport countered that the second runway would be needed when it came time to repair the main runway, saying that the crosswind runway was too short for use by most commercial airliners and cargo planes.

Rock said in his letter that if a second 5,000 to 9,000-foot runway was built, it would force the relocation of some Navy training to "other parts of the country." In included a letter from Mark A. Schafer, the commander of the Naval Special Warfare Group Two, who said that "the approval of a parallel runway for Norfolk International would significantly hinder training, burden operators, and cause an unacceptable increase in operational costs,” and shifting the training away from Virginia Beach would increase the hourly cost of operating training helicopters to $9 million per year, and building a new storage facility for ordnance would cost more than $70 million.

Rock said that the Navy does not object to progress at the civilian airport, but such progress "requires solutions that do not have detrimental impacts to critical military operations.”

FMI: Source report