Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 13, 1990                   TAG: 9007130202
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

AIRPORT GETS FAA GRANT FOR LAND

The money, from the Federal Aviation Administration, will be used to purchase about eight acres near the east-west runway and Airport Road.

Jacqueline Shuck, the airport's executive director, said Thursday the airport needs more space because air cargo business is up 26 percent this fiscal year. A year earlier, air cargo also rose by about 25 percent, she said.

The airport's master plan calls for a new air cargo facility to be developed to replace the scattered operations that exist now.

Shuck said the airport does not have a building where planes can pull up and unload.

Now the cargo has to be unloaded from planes, taken to several different locations at the airport and then reloaded on trucks and other vehicles.

Buying the land would be the first step, she said, so one or more buildings can be constructed near the runway and a ramp can be installed for planes to travel to the facility.

The timetable for the cargo facility is uncertain, Shuck said. Also unanswered was whether the airport or a private developer would build the facility.

City Manager Robert Herbert, chairman of the Regional Airport Commission, said the airport wants to acquire the site because "land is being developed so fast that we thought it best to try to acquire it now."

Herbert said the acquisition also may free more space near the old terminal to be used for general aviation purposes.