Business

U.S. awards $5 million for AVL runway project

By Bill Moss, Published: September 12, 2017

Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority has been awarded $5,053,216 of discretionary grant funds by the U.S. Department of Transportation to help finish the airport's new runway project.

"It is good news for our region and airport to have the support of the Federal Aviation Administration as we complete this very important airfield project," said Lew Bleiweis, executive director at Asheville Regional Airport. "We have been under construction for nearly four years, and when complete, our airport's most important infrastructure — our airfield — will be ready to serve air service needs in our region for decades to come."

The rehabilitation project for the airport's airfield has been a priority of the FAA to improve the airport's infrastructure and ensure that the runway system meets the most modern FAA construction standards.

"I'd like to thank our elected officials for their continued advocacy and support for western North Carolina's airport, especially Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, and Representative Mark Meadows," Bleiweis said.

AVL's airfield project, titled "Project SOAR: Significant Opportunity for Aviation and the Region," is a four-phase, four-plus year project that will result in a new replacement runway and a new west taxiway that opens more land for aeronautical development. The new runway is slated to commission in late 2017 or early 2018. To learn more, visit www.flyavl.com/projectsoar.