Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 9

185 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 LYNCHBURG REGIONAL A I RPORT uniquely situated at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains,” says Airport Director Andrew LaGala. “We are in west-central Virginia, a region that has a lot of outdoor activities and the airport is also nicely situated close to the heart of the city. It really combines the best of both worlds. Lynchburg is home to a variety of companies, including large nuclear- service corporations – BWX Technologies and Framatome –along with the universities. It’s a small city that is known as a great place to live, work, and play.” The airport was established in 1931 and was originally known as Preston Glenn Airport, named in honor of Lt. Preston Glenn, a Lynchburg native who died in service as an Army Air Corps pilot during World War I. In 1992, the airport’s new terminal facility opened for business and the growth since then has continued unabated. Today, flying into the airport is a visual treat all its own. As LaGala describes it, “First off, it is beautiful as you are surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. But then you also notice that we are a large airport with two runways, the largest of which is our runway 4-22 coming in at 7,100 feet long by 150 feet wide. That’s our main airline runway and is capable of handling most single-isle commercial aircraft in use today. Our other crosswind runway is 3,318 feet long and primarily serves general aviation aircraft.” LYH features both a modern airline terminal and a separate general aviation terminal to serve business and private aircraft. It is a robust airport with over 90,000 aircraft operations a year. LaGala boasts, “Not only is it a nicely situated airport, but we also offer all the facilities. We have an air traffic control tower that is staffed 18 hours a day and efficiently operated by Midwest ATC Service. We also have an Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) facility operated by Pro-Tec Fire Services Ltd., strictly dedicated to the airport with two fully capable response trucks. There’s lots of parking,