THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200425
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
The Norfolk Airport Authority has released its master plan update, which calls for $360.5 million in spending on airport expansion over 35 years.
The plan calls for the authority to eventually build a 7,000-foot runway parallel to the main runway at the Norfolk International Airport, expand the parking garage, add another concourse for more gates, and construct a new general aviation and air-cargo area.
The first step will be some expansion of the airport's baggage handling and claim capacity, said Kenneth R. Scott, the airport authority's executive director. ``Where we're closest to being cramped is baggage claim,'' he said.
Airport officials are considering constructing a separate building adjacent to the parking garage and connected by a second-floor walkway to the main terminal to handle arrivals and house baggage claim, Scott said. Construction could start as soon as 1998.
Moving baggage claim to a separate facility would free space in the main terminal for additional ticketing desks, he said.
Other projects in the master plan update aren't likely to be undertaken until after the turn of the century, Scott said. The airport's capacity isn't likely to be too strained until well after 2000.
The master plan projects that passenger boardings will grow from 1.3 million in 1993 to more than 2 million in 2000, over 2.5 million in 2005, about 3 million in 2015 and nearly 4 million in 2030.
The number of flights through the airport is projected to increase from 131,318 in 1993 to 206,900 by 2015. At that rate, the capacity of the existing runway could be overtaken before 2010.
``The addition of a parallel runway will provide enough capacity to handle forecast growth through the year 2030,'' according to the update.
The update proposes starting construction on that runway, but there's a catch.
The airport growth projections are ``optimistic,'' Scott said. The timetable for airport expansion has to be flexible, he said.
``You don't build if your traffic doesn't build the way you project it will,'' he said.
Growth is determined a lot by air fares and the economy, Scott said. More realistic projections might delay the projects several years, he said.
For example, a new concourse is far from being needed today. ``We have a surplus of gates right now,'' Scott said.
Additional gates and other traveler support and comfort facilities won't be needed until after 2015, according to the update.
Another hitch could be financing. While the authority derives most of its funding from revenue bonds, it would need grants from the Federal Airport Improvement Program to build the parallel runway.
The budget balancing mood in Washington could end up limiting that program, Scott said.
The update was prompted a few years ago by talk of building a super-regional airport to serve South Hampton Roads, the Peninsula and Richmond.
It shows that such a superport may not be necessary for decades, Scott said. At least in South Hampton Roads, Norfolk International Airport has room to grow and meet anticipated growth well into the 21st century.
The master plan update was developed for the airport authority by a consultant team including Landrum & Brown Inc., Delta Airport Consultants Inc., The Airport Technology and Planning Group Inc., and Jo Haltermon, Design. ILLUSTRATION: Color graphic by John Earle, The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT EXPANSION CONSTRUCTION by CNB