Members of the Augusta Airport Commission at their Jan. 27 meeting looked at a plan to enclose an area at the east end of the terminal building.
The area was designed when airlines servicing the airport flew propeller aircraft into Augusta and people boarded from the ground. Those have now been replaced by jet aircraft and boarding bridges that passengers use.
“What it would do is give us about 1,800 square feet of existing seating space,” said airport Executive Director Herbert Judon, Jr. “But more importantly, what it would do would allow the installation of two additional passenger boarding bridges, because right now those gates are not configured for passenger boarding bridges. They were they were just walk down gates.”
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Judon said it would be a customer amenity that could make the airport more attractive to attracting another airline.
“So, what we’ll do now is we’ll take it to the airport construction committee. And we’ll vet it, answer any questions, provide details,” he said. At that point, we’ll do what we call a work authorization and probably task our engineering contractor to start design and eventually put it out for bid.”
He said work on the terminal building would cost roughly $2 million which could be covered with the airport’s infrastructure funds.
Commission members also heard results of an obstruction survey that began last spring.
“There are surfaces around an airport that need to be protected from obstructions for flight safety. And so there are natural objects, you know, such as trees that grow into approach or departure surfaces,” Judon said. “So, what we have done is a survey we went out and surveyed and found those objects that were in our approach zone, and we will be working in the next year or so to remove some of them.
The results, presented by Stephanie Ward, manager of aviation planning at Mead and Hunt, found approximately 2,100 places to clear near runway 17/35, which is the airport’s primary runway.
Prior to the start of the airport commission’s regular meeting, the human resources committee met in executive session. During the full board’s meeting the committee recommended a 5% salary increase for Judon. He currently earns just over $193,000. The recommendation was approved unanimously.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
