Expansion underway at Raleigh County airport

Apr. 26—A $1.3 million project to upgrade and expand the terminal at Raleigh County Memorial Airport should be completed by June, according to the airport's assistant manager, Robert Runion.

Funding for the expansion comes from the Federal Aviation Administration's airport improvement program, which was secured through congressionally directed spending requests made by West Virginia legislators in D.C.

Runion said the expansion will more than double the seating area for passengers who have gone through security screenings, also known as the hold room.

Work on the project began in March.

Runion said the current hold room has only 16 seats even though commercial aircraft that use the airport hold 30 passengers.

"If an aircraft were to have a delay, or we had a number of passengers, we would have to deplane our passengers inside the terminal, secure the terminal and let them sit in the terminal because there wasn't enough space in the screening room," Runion said.

Runion said the expanded hold room will seat 50 passengers and add roughly 1,700 square feet to the back side of the airport.

The addition of restrooms is part of the upgrade.

Runion said the airport's current hold room doesn't have a restroom, which means that if people need to use the restroom after making their way through security, they'd have to reenter the main terminal and then be rescreened to return to the hold room.

"So the passengers would have to possibly be screened multiple times," he said.

Runion said this will be the airport's first expansion since it was built in 1976.

Having previously worked at Raleigh County Memorial Airport for 22 years, starting in 1988 after graduating from college, Runion said he's pleased to see all the advancements taking place at the airport.

"An airport is a tool or an infrastructure that most communities really need, and we need to take advantage of that and be able to support that, not only from a community side but also from an infrastructure side because that brings economic growth," he said. "To be able to step in about this time, to be able to be a part of it and see the changes and see what the history was, it's just really exciting ... You've seen some airports that have gone the other direction, and to see this one continue to have growth and be able to have a future, I think it's awesome."

Runion said TSA has funded several recent upgrades at the airport, including an X-ray machine for luggage, eliminating the need for staff to physically search all luggage.

He added that TSA has purchased a new body scanner, too, which will further automate operations.

Raleigh County Memorial Airport Board member Jina Belcher, also the executive director of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, said the expansion of the hold room was necessary to accommodate an increase in daily flights.

She added that the expansion would pair well with the airport's 105-acre industrial park, which is undergoing site preparations.

"We have always focused on this airport as an industrial hub for aviation," Belcher said. "However, we have acknowledged that having the accessibility to have direct flights to Charlotte and Parkersburg have really provided additional opportunities for not only the workforce that's going to locate here to travel more easily but also for the folks that are living here and moving to West Virginia and to the Beckley, Raleigh County area and the New River Gorge area. It really serves as sort of that regional hub of both manufacturing and workforce development as well as commercial flight service."

Belcher said she would eventually like to see the airport offer a direct flight to D.C., which is more likely now, given the expansion.

Giving an update on the industrial park, Belcher said the project is in its final phase, which will include extending utilities.

"We are having daily conversations with several different manufacturers that are interested, and I would hope that we would be able to locate someone of interest in the next eight to 12 months because we are seeing a lot of interest right now in prospects," Belcher said.