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The Raleigh Exec Jetport (TTA) shared where the airport is headed, looking at past and future construction projects and recent expansion. This second installment in the series about the state of the airport, its growth in recent years and its plans for the future, focused on increasing demand and regional growth and how the airport is prepared to meet that challenge.
TTA recently completed a $5.3 million expansion south of the terminal, adding new taxiways and infrastructure to enhance safety and open up land to build additional hangars to relieve a long waiting list. On the other side of the terminal sits an area of land designated for large corporate hangars. The planned hangars have already leased every space available in the first phase. The second phase is currently being designed. These changes are a small effort to keep up with a big demand. There is a waiting list for mid-size hangars and a demand for large, corporate spaces. The hangar opened nearly four years ago and is already facing major changes as the region welcomes a boom in business and aviation.
"Triangle business is just booming," Airport Director Bob Heuts said. "This area has always enjoyed a vibrant economy, but there are specific trends happening right now and it doesn't take a crystal ball to see what that will mean for Raleigh Exec."
The area has large manufacturing plants and service companies moving into the region. Last year, electric vehicle company VinFast announced its first manufacturing facility in the U.S., just 10 miles from Raleigh Exec. VinFast is planning to bring a $4 billion investment and 7,500 jobs over five years. At the time of the announcement, VinFast was the largest economic development project in North Carolina history. This feat was topped in mere months when Woldspeed announced that its world's largest silicon carbide manufacturing facility would be built in the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site. Wolfspeed brings another 1,800 jobs to the $5 billion plant located about 35 miles from TTA. FedEx is also moving into the region and Bharat Forge opened a new facility to manufacture aluminum vehicle components just six miles from the airport.
"Raleigh Exec is a first-class airport and a wonderful door to our region," said Michael Smith, president of the Chatham County Economic Development Corp. "The airport is already important to economic development throughout the Triangle, especially with so many companies moving here, and it's only going to become more essential in years to come."
On top of an influx of businesses into the region, changes at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) are having a direct impact on TTA. Raleigh Exec was designated by the FAA as a reliever airport to RDU to help reduce congestion. RDU is announcing new passenger routes monthly to keep up with booming commercial passenger demand, replacing their primary runway with a longer one to allow existing airlines to carry more passengers and cargo on larger planes.
"As more resources at RDU are directed toward passenger travel, that makes things more challenging there for general aviation," Heuts said "That means we expect more demand not only from the enormous economic expansion in our region, but also from companies now based at RDU that may find it easier to operate from Raleigh Exec."
With a growing demand, the airport is preparing for the future. Preparation includes expanding the airport and providing more space for development and maintaining safety as operations grow. About 600 acres have been added to the airport's 700-acre location. This brings the total landspace for Raleigh Exec to between 1,200 and 1,400 acres, which was the original plan when the airport opened in 1999. The airport's location was initially chosen because it could easily be expanded when the time came. The time has now come and the location is still primarily rural and sparsely populated, meaning expansion will not infringe on local communities closing in on the airport border and safety can remain a priority.
The airport was given a $9 million grant to acquire some of the land and more will come later this year. Land parcels are going through a long process for land acquisition and once completed, written offers can be issued and purchases made. The sale of one small tract of land has closed. Another is in the early phase of the acquisition, part of a larger 200-300-acre tract that could be used for a planned air traffic control tower, a new location for a specialized weather system and a parallel taxiway to move planes around the runway.
The first installment in the series introduced some of the recent development projects, like the South Development. The South Development is not the only major expansion of late. Not long ago, in the space where large corporate hangars are now sitting was an undeveloped spot of land ready to accommodate hangars 15,000 square feet or larger. Most of the new infrastructure around TTA, like a new water and sewer service, a public fire suppression system and fiber internet service, were part of that project. The initial phase of the North Terminal Hangars will be built out by the end of 2024 and is now home to large aircraft, such as the Gulfstream G550. Now that the first section is fully leased, phase two is in the design phase and the airport is looking for funding.
The next installment in the series will discuss how the airport is using its growth to serve the community.