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\u201cThe future looks bright for the 72 public use airports in\nthe State of North Carolina,\u201d said Mark R. Davidson, A.A.E., Airport Director,\nSmith Reynolds Airport, in Winston-Salem and President of the North Carolina\nAirports Association (NCAA). \u201cAir traffic at a number of airports has increased\nover the previous year and new funding sources have come available including\nover $126 million in the State budget for 18 individual airports.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the negative impacts of COVID 19, a number of airports\nhave thrived since 2020 including Smith Reynolds. \u201cOur airport is busting at\nthe seams and all hangars are leased out,\u201d said Davidson. \u201cFor this reason and\nmany others including job growth, Forsyth County is committed to building new\ncorporate and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hangars, as well as\nfacilities to promote start-ups.\u201d The County is also committed to the future of\naviation by supporting advanced air mobility. \u201cInnovative ways to move people\nand cargo in the urban area of Winston-Salem is just one of the reasons the\nfuture is bright in North Carolina,\u201d said Davidson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Dan Danieley, Executive Director, Burlington-Alamance Airport\nAuthority and an NCAA At-Large Director, agrees. \u201cThe Burlington Alamance\nRegional Airport continues to experience an increase in flight operations and\ngrowth. We anticipate 2022 to be an even greater year for our airport and\ncommunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can include Raleigh Regional Airport in that assessment.\nSherry Wilborn, CEcD, Economic Development Director for Person County noted\nthat during COVID, the Raleigh Regional Airport at Person County saw an uptick\nin cargo support for regional industry as well as air traffic for smaller,\nprivate and charter planes. \u201cWe expect to see both continue into 2022, and with\n24\/7 fueling, loading, and transport capabilities, we are well-equipped to\nsupport the needs.\u201d Another area of expected growth that they are preparing for\nis the need for corporate hangar space with all the industrial expansion\nprojects taking place in the Triangle and Piedmont Triad. \u201cOur 15,000-sf\ncorporate hangar is expected to be complete in the Spring of 2022, with plans\nto further extend the 6,005\u2019 runway funded and soon to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In Eastern North Carolina, the recovery has picked up steam\nand some airports, including the Albert J. Ellis Airport (OAJ) near\nJacksonville, even set records during peak months in 2021. \u201cAs we enter 2022 OAJ,\nalong with many other airports across North Carolina, has picked up a\nsignificant tailwind,\u201d said Chris White, A.A.E., Airport Director and past\npresident of NCAA. \u201cBetween recent investments made by the State of North\nCarolina, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, AIP, the Cares Act and\nothers its shaping up to be a busy few years as airports undertake and resume\nmany necessary projects.\u201d Moving ahead this year, White says it appears that\nthe biggest challenges will be capacity and human capital related. \u201cWhether its\ntechnicians, engineers or pilots our industry must find ways to invest more\ninto developing the diverse workforce needed to secure the future of aviation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Even the larger airports in the state are hopeful. Michael Landguth, president & CEO, Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority says RDU is entering 2022 with a sense of optimism and the expectation that it will be a year of continued recovery and growth. \u201cWe experienced robust growth in 2021, signaling that the recovery is already underway.\u201d While RDU\u2019s leisure market grew steadily last year, business travel is still lagging behind. RDU had an even split of business and leisure travel before the pandemic, but, according to Landguth, today the airport is heavily weighted toward leisure travel amid pent up demand for visiting family and friends and vacationing, therefore, RDU will focus its efforts this year on regaining the business market that is critical to sustaining passenger traffic outside the busy summer and holiday seasons. Restoring nonstop international travel is also a target area for RDU in 2022. \u201cWe announced recently that Icelandair will launch a nonstop flight to Reykjavik in 2022, a market that offers connections to dozens of destinations in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Scandinavia,\u201d said Landguth. \u201cThat new route, along with the expected return of our Paris and London flights, will help provide the global connectivity that is so important to business travelers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Increasing passenger traffic will also allow RDU to revisit\nand restart capital projects in 2022 that were identified in its Vision 2040\nmaster plan for growth, including completion of a remain overnight parking\narea, expansion of the Terminal 2 security checkpoint and improvements to\nperimeter security. Additional capital projects under consideration include\nparking expansion and construction of a new rental car storage lot, roadway\nimprovements, commercial development along Aviation Parkway and future\ncapacity-related enhancements to both terminal facilities. \u201cOur most\nsignificant undertaking \u2013 the replacement of our primary runway \u2013 is also on\ntrack for 2022,\u201d said Landguth. \u201cThe FAA has authorized the Airport Authority\nto move forward with an environmental assessment for replacing 5L\/23R, kicking\noff a multi-year project that could lead to shovels in the ground by the end of\nthe year. In all, we are confident that\nRDU will grow along with the thriving Research Triangle market this year, with\na renewed emphasis on building for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Coastal Carolina Regional Airport (EWN), Andrew Shorter,\nC.M., Airport Director, said they are highly optimistic about 2022. On the back\nside of completing their new Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting facility in\nNovember, the airport has ambitious plans to start its 18-month airline\nterminal expansion and rehabilitation project this year. \u201cIn addition to those\nexciting improvements, we are nearing the mid-point of construction for our\nnew, two-unit corporate hangar project and we already have anxious commercial\ntenants lined-up and waiting to occupy this new state of the art facility,\u201d\nsaid Shorter. \u201cYou can say that we are hitting on all cylinders because all of\nthese new improvements provide across-the-board transformational changes that\nwill continue to move EWN forward to best serve the aeronautical needs for the\ngrowing and thriving coastal communities of Eastern North Carolina.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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As upbeat as everyone seems, higher costs are having an impact on the industry. The North Carolina aerial application industry is not alone in facing higher product prices and uncertainties, all which could impact the season\u2019s activities. \u201cWe\u2019re on pins and needles,\u201d said Mike Rivenbark, owner\/operator of Moore\u2019s Aerial Applicators in Clinton and Executive Director of the North Carolina Ag Aviation Association. \u201cCosts are high. Fertilizer and insecticide costs are higher this year. A lot could rest on the mindset of farmers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rivenbark says Eastern North Carolina has a bad problem with\nStink Bugs that are impacting corn production. \u201cIf not treated farmers could\nface a $20 to $30 loss per bushel. Mother Nature also plays a big part in what\ncrops get treated.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Rivenbark thinks it will be a good year. \u201cWe\u2019ll make\nthe best of it.\u201d When will he know for sure if 2022 will be a good year? \u201cCheck\nwith me in October!\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Much of the aviation industry in North Carolina is upbeat about the prospects of 2022 being a good year. That message is being heard from airport officials across the state, state and county governments and even aerial applicators. \u201cThe future looks bright for the 72 public use airports in the State of North Carolina,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-north-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mike-Rivenbark-spraying-NC-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20596,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20588\/revisions\/20596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}