Warm Smell of Colitas…

Van Nuys (VNY), America's busiest general aviation airport is celebrating the reopening of its Runway 16L/34R after a $13.1-million renovation that saw the entirety of the runway’s four-thousand-foot length rebuilt, festooned with new surface markings, adorned in new airport signage, and showcased under new LED lighting.

The base of the new runway comprises one-hundred-percent recyclable materials.

The repair work is expected to endure another two-decades of sun, smog, automobile incursions, police-chases, and celebrity depravity.

Los Angeles World Airports CEO Justin Erbacci states: "As one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country, Van Nuys Airport is proud to provide our tenants and visitors with facilities that will enhance safety and efficiency for decades to come.”

In 2021, despite seeing no Part 121 traffic, VNY conducted more than three-hundred-thousand business jet, flight-training, air-ambulance, and private pilot operations.

Van Nuys Airport Association president Curt Castagna asserted: “Los Angeles World Airport’s investment in this runway asset, together with the commitment of its tenant business partners at VNY who are leading efforts to introduce environmental improvements, maximizes the airport's status as a leading center for new industry, pilots jobs, and positive economic benefits to the City of Los Angeles.”

The runway’s reopening was commemorated by a ceremonial first flight featuring a 1979 Cessna 152 piloted by a representative of the Hot Shot Aviation flight school. The Cessna’s rise from the renovated runway was powered by sustainable aviation fuel—a fact that fails to offset the event’s penurious subtext.

FMI: www.iflyvny.com