Only Airport In Maricopa County Without A 5,000-Foot Runway

The City of Chandler, Arizona, is gearing up to again ask residents to approve a bond request to lengthen a runway at Chandler Municipal Airport (KCHD). They have rejected previous requests but this time the City is giving them the reasons.

Ryan Reeves, the airport director, said at a city council meeting, “We’re answering now, for the first real time, ‘why.’”

Chandler Municipal is the 6th busiest airport in Arizona and the 17th busiest GA airport in the country, averaging about 251,000 operations per year. It is one of just three GA airports in Maricopa County with two runways, but it’s the only one in the county that lacks a 5,000-foot runway.

CHD’s two runways are 4,870 and 4,401 feet, and Reeves said the city should lengthen the longer one to at least 5,550 feet. Reeves stresses that the reason is not to bring in larger aircraft because the pavement is simply not thick enough to support the heavier weight.

Mr. Reeves said, “[They] don’t want airliners to land there, and neither do I. That would destroy your entire airport quite quickly. We could build a runway 12,000 feet long, but I can’t put any bigger aircraft on Chandler Airport than there is now.”

The reason is that during hot weather, which there is no shortage of in Arizona three seasons out of the year, some smaller planes can’t use the runway because high density altitude during hot days require longer takeoff rolls.

To begin the process the city has commissioned a community impact study to analyze the economic impact of the airport and how much the city is losing because of the shorter runway limiting aircraft access during hot weather.

FMI:  www.chandleraz.gov/