The Pitt Greenville Airport reopened its primary and secondary runways this morning at 9:10am, a full four days ahead of schedule. This marks the end of weight-restricted travel and full regular airline service can begin immediately.
Typically, regional airport runways have a lifespan of 20 years. Through continued stewardship from maintenance staff, the Pitt Greenville Airport was able to increase that lifespan by 35%. However, the ongoing effort needed to maintain the runway had become cost prohibitive. Resurfacing the runway helps to improve flight and airline reliability by minimizing downtime for repairs but also reduces the operating costs necessary to maintain an aging runway.
The runway resurfacing marks the largest project in the nearly $17 million in improvements made to the airport over the last two years, nearly 94% of which was funded through federal and state grants. Additional projects included a runway signage and lighting improvement project. Runway lights were replaced with brighter, more energy efficient LED lights, which will increase the visibility of the runway, reduce energy consumption by as much as 75% per year, and reduce maintenance costs as LED lights can last as long as seven years.
PGV Airport Authority Chairman Eric Clark sites keeping an open ear to the needs of the community as an impetus for the improvements. “We’ve listened closely to the feedback from our community, and we’re committed to ensuring our facilities meet and even exceed the needs of today’s traveler,” said Clark, “While the airport’s facilities have not directly impacted airline reliability, these improvements are vital to improving customer experience and enable us to reduce overall operating costs.”