Federal Government To Pay All But 5 Percent Of The Cost

The FAA has approved a plan to extend the runway at Virginia Highlands Airport (KVJI) in Abingdon, finding "no significant impact" for the project. The extension was first proposed about 14 years ago, and local officials say that raising the 5 percent local and state money necessary to go with the 95% federal funds could take as much as a year, given the economy.

Airport Manager Mickey Hines told the Tri-Cities newspaper that it was not unusual for such projects to be 20 years from inception to completion.

According to AirNav, the current runway is 4471 feet long and 75 feet wide. The uncontrolled airport is publicly owned by the Virginia Highlands Airport Authority. There are 72 aircraft based on the field. Five of those are multi-engine pistons and seven are jets. There are also five helicopters and four ultralights. The airport averages 68 operations per day according to 2008 data, the latest available. 45% of that is transient GA, another 45% is local GA. The operations are rounded out by nine percent air taxi and one percent military operations.

The proposal is to extend the runway to 5,500 feet, making it able to accommodate 75 percent of the large aircraft weighing 60,000 pounds or less. There would also be additional safety areas constructed at each end of runway 6-24, and it would be widened 25 feet. The project would also require the re-location of State Route 611, according to documents on the airport website.

Hines said the next steps are land acquisition along with a design and engineering study. No date has been set for the onset of actual construction.

FMI: www.vahighlandsairport.com