Open house held as Tri-Cities Airport Master Plan nears completion
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Tri-Cities Airport staff hosted an open house meeting as they near the completion of their master plan that will help shape the future of the airport for the next 20 years.
The Tri-Cities Airport Master Plan project has been taking place for the last two years.
Consulting firm Atkins Realis was hired by The Tri-Cities Airport to help make this master plan a reality.
Gavin Fahnestock, director of aviation planning with Atkins Realis, said the process started with forecasts of what they anticipate the airport needing throughout the next 20 years.
'And so the master plan identifies what we have today, where we're going into the future, and then comes up with a plan on how to accommodate that and what development would be necessary to accommodate that as well,' Fahnestock said.
Instead of focusing on attracting new airline services to the Tri-Cities, the master plan takes into account what would need to change at the airport to accommodate that growth.
'So if the airport were to gain a new airline, or if they were to gain new routes to different destinations, what would the impact on the airport be? You know, how many additional passengers would be coming through and what kind of impacts to the parking would that have on the airport, on the terminal facility. How can we accommodate those different types of aircraft on the air side as well?'
At the open house, three different airport development alternative plans were shown and then the preferred alternative plan that was chosen throughout the process. That preferred alternative will serve as the blueprint for the future of the Tri-Cities Airport.
'Some of the more major development items that we have identified for the Tri-Cities Airport include growth in the terminal building. The current terminal building is very congested and actually doesn't meet the demand that it has today.'
Fahnestock said expanding the terminal building will help accommodate additional airlines. Therefore, they would change the crosswind runway.
'But it [the crosswind runway] would actually go away. And then in the future be replaced with a parallel runway. A parallel runway would provide a lot more efficiency at the airport, a lot more capacity at the airport, and would get rid of that conflict with the two runways, which really has an impact on the ability for multiple aircraft to be using the two different facilities at the same time.'
Fahnestock said the aerospace park on the south side of the airport is also a huge opportunity for development in the master plan.
'That kind of development can include anything from personal hangars, corporate hangars, maintenance and repair facilities, cargo facilities, or other industrial kind of development as well.'
Although the preferred alternative development is the current chosen road map for the airport, it can continue to be changed and modified.
Other factors such as environmental impact and revenue are also included in the master plan.
Fahnestock said it's important to have this pan in place to meet the airport's demand.
'And I think the excitement for this is showing that the airport is taking the steps necessary to position themselves to grow in the future. So the master planning process really is that first step. It really provides you the baseline to be able to react to changes within the aviation industry, but also in the demand of the airport.'
You can still submit feedback for the Tri-Cities Master Plan here.
To find more information about the plan, you can visit the Tri-Cities Airport website.
The entire Tri-Cities Master Plan will continue to be updated throughout the next 20 years.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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