Business View Magazine | October 2020

166 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020 Things began to change in 1983. That’s when the Airport Commission, local businesspeople, Congressional representatives, and representatives from the Virginia Department of Aviation and the Federal Aviation Administration met. Attendees expressed concern about the condition of the Airport and its importance to economic development for the county and Southwest Virginia. The first step to ensure the Airport’s future viability was to lengthen the existing runway to 3,380 feet. However, it was still only 40 feet wide. By 1986, the first runway was converted into a taxiway and a new runway was built. It was the same length, but 75 feet wide. This met all the appropriate safety requirements of the day, but the runaway was still too small for many corporate and business aircraft. In the next three years, security fences were installed, a helipad was constructed, and a rotating beacon was installed. The state of Virginia installed a localizer approach, allowing for safer landings in marginal weather. Also, during this time, plans were coming together for the construction of a new terminal building. In the early 1960s, the only terminal building was an old house trailer reject from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A “lean-to” building was constructed near the main corporate hangar, but this soon proved inadequate. In 1990, the Airport Commission, Washington County, and the Virginia Aviation Board authorized construction of the present terminal building. The building was completed in 1991 and was dedicated along with a new runway extension. That took the runway to its present length of 4,470 feet. Today, the Airport has 49 T-Hangars, seven corporate hangars, and five clear-span hangars. There are 69 GA aircraft based at the Airport representing everything from ultralights to business jets. There is a Virginia State Police Medflight unit based at the Airport that serves