The Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport is soaring toward new growth with the planned expansion of its runway.
Although the airport sits in Washington, Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert said it has been one of the most critical pieces of Moscow’s infrastructure since its development in 1939. That was the year Moscow and Pullman entered into an agreement to share both the costs and benefits the regional airport has to offer.
“We need to be forward-looking with the airport,” Lambert said. “We started that hub in 1939 and with these plans we are looking to 2039, a hundred years later and even more.”
The executive director of the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport, Tony Bean, said aircraft have become so large, they have essentially outgrown the airport.
He said for the past 10 years the airport has been running under an exemption waiver provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), because it has a runway that does not provide the needed room for larger 737 aircraft models. When larger planes land at the airport, Bean said the airport holds a different requirement than most.
“This is currently our driver to expand — meeting the standard,” Bean said.
Bean said the runway’s projected completion is set for 2018, but not every aspect of the planned expansion will be done until 2019.
“All of the hangars and terminals have to be connected, the grading is going to be lifted higher — it’s a large project,” Bean said. “It is the highest priority project in the Northwest region.”
Lambert said the airport is growing, and along with that growth is the amount of passengers passing through to the Palouse.
“Every year, our passenger growth has been steadily moving upward by 20 percent,” Lambert said.
Of those passengers, Lambert said it would be beneficial for sports teams and students in general to have direct access to larger transportation hubs.
“It is kind of interesting that incoming sports teams fly into Spokane and ride the bus over here, and international students have a great deal of connecting flights to get here,” Lambert said. “But these problems are what we plan on fixing.”
Other than passengers, Lambert said there are many products that must be trucked out of Moscow and filtered into Spokane and Lewiston for air travel. He said once the airport has the ability to easily fly out and bring in larger aircraft for product transportation, it will only strengthen Moscow’s economy.
“In relation to the airport, we have several companies and businesses that help with the growth of our air travel and economy,” Lambert said. “We need that kind of growth for our infrastructure to be sound and stable.”
Bean said it is important that both Pullman and Moscow make use of the airport as much as they can because of how close they are and how key each university is to its city.
“The airport is used equally by both cities in the sense that it is an economic engine owned by Pullman and Moscow,” Beans said. “With heightened existence of air service in the region, that money can move across the east and the west.”
Lambert also said he finds that events at both universities — especially Moms’ Weekend and Dads’ Weekend and holidays — make air travel fluctuate, which aids the local economy.
“It’s more money for schools, it’s more money for business and it keeps the economic cycle going strong,” Lambert said.
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Hailey_ann97