Airport staff and consultants from the Aviation Planning Group (APG) unveiled airport upgrade proposals to the public on Tuesday Jan. 22, during the second of three open houses for the Chehalis-Centralia Airport master plan update process that began last September.
Prior to the open house on Jan. 22 inside the airport’s Scott Crossfield Terminal, Chehalis-Centralia Airport Director Brandon Rakes was joined by APG project manager Leah Whitfield and APG lead planner Justin Heid at the Chehalis City Council meeting to preview the proposed upgrades.
Most of the proposed upgrades involve either extending existing runways and building new ones, along with adding more hangars and flightline apron space. Many other upgrades are also being considered.
Proposed upgrades are currently under review by the Chehalis-Centralia Airport master plan update technical and public advisory committees, according to Heid.
Required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for federal grant funding, airport master plans are comprehensive studies describing the short-, medium- and long-term development goals for future aviation demand at an airport.
The goal is to create an aviation forecast of what infrastructure upgrades or improvements will be needed over the next 20 years.
The Chehalis-Centralia Airport’s master plan was last updated in 2001.
“The aviation forecast, like we said, has been approved by the FAA early here in January,” Heid said.
Currently, the Chehalis-Centralia Airport sees approximately 50,000 operations — which include both landings and takeoffs — annually.
Heid explained hangar space at the airport is currently at 100% capacity and the forecast estimates operations could be as high as 70,000 in 20 years, hence the need for more hangars and taxiway apron space.
“As more hangars are built, more demand will rise and we’ll be able to have more operations at the airport,” Heid added.
Along with developing more hangars and flightline space, Heid said navigational aid and weather station upgrades were also proposed.
“We have snow-removal equipment on the list of things that need to be planned for and acquired within this planning period,” said Heid. “And another option for the airport is wildlife fencing.”
Getting the airport ready for advanced air mobility, which will integrate unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, is another goal being integrated into the master plan.
Whitfield said upgrades are being proposed in seven different development areas on airport property. Along with hangars and taxiways, a hydrogen development area on land behind the Home Depot is also being considered, according to Whitfield.
“Moving onto the Northeast development area and hydrogen development area, this is really where you see that newer emerging technology — that advanced air mobility,” Whitfield said. “... We’ve got hydrogen, we’ve got electric, we’ve got hybrid-electric and we have vertical take-off and landings.”
Adding more parking spots, not just for aircraft but for cars, is also being incorporated into upgrade designs.
According to Heid, the technical and public advisory committees should be done reviewing the proposed upgrades by the end of the month, upon which upgrade proposals will be posted to the airport’s website for the public to access.
He anticipated the third and final open house to be held in March, with the final draft of the updated Chehalis-Centralia Airport master plan to be ready by May.
Public comments and suggestions will be accepted throughout the airport master plan update process. To submit a comment and sign up for master plan update notifications, visit https://www.chehaliscentraliaairport.com/public-engagement-1.
For more information on the master plan and to view the 2001 Chehalis-Centralia Airport master plan, visit https://www.chehaliscentraliaairport.com/documents.
To learn more about the APG, visit https://www.theaviationplanninggroup.com/.
