One of two runways at Augusta Regional Airport will be closed during the Masters Tournament as a safety precaution and used as a parking area for private jets.
Roy Williams, the airport’s executive director, told the Augusta Aviation Commission on Thursday that he is submitting a request to the FAA to close the secondary runway. During the airport’s busiest week, it’s a safety hazard for pilots who are not familiar with the airfield’s perpendicular runways, he said.
“Anytime you have a runway crossing, where two runways intersect, you have a potential safety issue,” Williams said. “We will be very, very busy during Masters Week so by officially closing that secondary runway, the pilots will know in advance there’s just one runway to use.”
During the Masters Tournament, commercial airlines add flights into Augusta and use larger aircraft. Additionally, about 3,000 landings and takeoffs for private aircraft are projected.
Delta and US Airways are adding nine departing flights each to New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to Diane Johnston, Augusta Regional’s marketing director. US Airways will have 10 departing flights to Philadelphia International Airport. Both airlines add additional flights to Charlotte and Atlanta, the airport’s only destinations besides a seasonal direct flight to Washington, D.C., which begins Sunday.
“Airlines are the ones who make those decisions. We don’t have anything to do with that,” Johnston said about the additional Masters Week flights. “The reality is they are putting them in here because people want them. They are busy and they make a lot of money on them.”
From April 8 to 13, the flight to D.C. will operate two to four times daily for Masters Week guests, according to Johnston.
In total, Augusta Regional will have 217 departing flights with 18,951 seats from the Saturday prior to the tournament to April 13 – the Monday after it concludes. April 13 is the airport’s busiest day of the year with 26 outgoing flights.
The following 10-day period when Augusta Regional returns to normal operations has 151 flights and 9,041 seats.
In addition to the closed runway for parking private jets, Augusta Regional plans to use two taxiways to park about 200 aircraft, depending on sizes and wingspans, at one time.
A shortage of parking areas for private jets has been a recurring issue for the airport during Masters Week. After a system requiring reservations failed to alleviate problems in recent years, the airport has eliminated reservation requirements and will park aircraft on a first-come, first-served basis.
Last year, Augusta Regional had 2,034 landings and takeoffs for private aircraft.
Augusta Regional has never closed a runway to accommodate Masters traffic until this year, said Lauren Smith, the airport’s communications manager.
Williams said the closed runway will be marked with large, lighted X-marks. In the event of an incident on the primary north-south runway that will remain open, the executive director said planes can easily be towed off either runway to keep operations running. The runway could also be repaired quickly if the pavement was damaged, he said.
“Even if we had plenty of parking, I’d still be closing this runway for Masters,” said Williams, who has worked at the airport about two months.
Original article can be found at: http://chronicle.augusta.com
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