A new plan to extend the runway at the St. John the Baptist Parish Airport avoids encroaching on adjacent wetlands, which is expected to dramatically reduce the cost of the project. The Port of South Louisiana, which operates the parish-owned airport, accepted a proposed plan by the Kutchins & Groh aviation consulting firm. The port is seeking funding for...
A new plan to extend the runway at the St. John the Baptist Parish Airport avoids encroaching on adjacent wetlands, which is expected to dramatically reduce the cost of the project.
The Port of South Louisiana, which operates the parish-owned airport, accepted a proposed plan by the Kutchins & Groh aviation consulting firm. The port is seeking funding for the project from state and federal sources.
"Expanding into wetlands at the end of the runway would be very expensive, so we tried to find a way not to do that," Port Executive Director Joel Chaisson said.
The estimated cost for the new plan is $2.5 million, down from a 2009 estimate of $8 million if the extension and runway markers encroached on wetlands.
"This extension of the runway lies entirely within the existing levee, so we won't have to pay mitigation costs for the runway," Chaisson said.
The plan calls for extending the runway on both ends: 746 feet to the north and 405 feet to the south.
From a pilot's perspective, it would be better to extend the runway to the north because of industrial obstructions and power lines along Airline Highway make an approach from the south more difficult under certain conditions.
But Jim Riviere of Gramercy, who keeps his single-engine plane at the airport, said any extension would be an improvement, and said he's glad that the port is running the airport because it has made the expansion a priority.
"I never thought that this airport has lived up to is potential because of the length of the runway," said Riviere, who runs the aviation web site LaAviator.com.
"After Hurricane Katrina, we got a lot of business because Lakefront Airport was flooded. We could have kept more of it if there was a longer runway."
Port Commissioner Paul "Joey" Murray III, a pilot who uses the airport, said the longer runway would allow more corporate jets to use the airport, which would mean more revenue from fuel sales.
"We have corporate executives coming in and out of here all the time, and they have to land in New Orleans," he said. "An hour's time means a lot to those people."
Currently, jet traffic is so sparse that the airport doesn't sell fuel for them, airport manager Rick Moran said.
Yet there is a demand for the airport because it has relatively low fees compared to the general aviation facilities at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner.
Chaisson said improving the airport isn't just about helping local pilots.
"We see it as an economic development tool that gives the port more intermodal capacity," he said. "We feel we can bring in more businesses to the area."