ORANGE — With an economic output of more than $11 million, it’s important the runways at Orange Municipal Airport are kept up to date.
And, according to Airport Manager Leonard Bedaw, reconstruction of its north-south runway is expected to begin this year.
With a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration, the runway will receive a full reconstruction as well as runway edge lighting.
“It’s because of its age. It’s really overdue,” said Bedaw, noting the last reconstruction was done in 1995.
Bedaw said the runway is large enough for “just about any airplane to land there in an emergency,” and is the larger of the airport’s two runways at 5,000 feet long and 75 feet wide; the other is 4,801 feet long by 75 feet wide.
According to Bedaw, there isn’t a concrete timeline for the reconstruction yet, but that “hopefully” the project will start in the spring.
The airport is working with town officials to get through the permitting process, as well as making sure any construction would have minimal environmental impact.
Furthermore, the $4.9 million grant is a one-time, “supplemental appropriation” from the federal government, meaning the grant will pay for reconstruction entirely and not cost the town a penny, Bedaw said. The program targeted 179 airports in all 50 states and Puerto Rico with $779 million in funding. This is in addition to the federal Airport Improvement Program, which awarded Orange Municipal Airport more than $50,000 for lighting improvements last year.
“It’s 100 percent,” Bedaw said. “Normally, we would have to come up with a local match, 5 percent. … This is certainly to help economically depressed areas.”
Orange Municipal Airport has the only 5,000-foot runway in the region, according to Bedaw, with the nearest comparable runways being Hanscomb Field in eastern Massachusetts, Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport outside of Springfield and Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene, N.H.
The airport thus has a “huge service area,” Bedaw said, accommodating a variety of corporate and private aircraft, and providing maintenance and repair facilities on site.
“We serve a tremendous role in the economic development here,” he said.
Indeed, the 2019 Massachusetts Statewide Airport Economic Study found Orange Municipal Airport has a total economic output of $11,067,000, while providing more than 100 jobs and a payroll of around $4.3 million.
The study, released every few years by the state Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division, collected data from airport sponsors, airport businesses and organizations, government agencies and visiting pilots and passengers to quantify the economic impact of each of the state’s 39 public-use airports.
By comparison, Franklin County’s other airport, Turners Falls Airport in Montague, was found to have 30 jobs with a $1.42 million payroll and an output of $3.9 million.
According to Bedaw, there are no plans to reconstruct the Orange airport’s smaller runway, which was reconstructed in the early 2000s and is still in fine shape.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.