Rhode Island airport board seeks runway closure

Perched on the shore of Narragansett Bay, the airport's 4,000-foot Runway 5/23 was added to the agenda of an April 9 meeting of the directors of the agency that manages six state-owned airports, including T.F. Green International Airport in Providence. AOPA Eastern Regional Manager Sean Collins learned of the pending decision hours before the deadline to submit written testimony for the hearing, and submitted a letter seeking time for public consideration and comment.

The RIAC decision is driven in part by the U.S. Navy's push to speed up submarine production. The land would be transferred to the Quonset Development Corp., and eventually allow General Dynamics subsidiary Electric Boat to expand its Quonset Point facility next to the airport. FAA airport grant policy is also a factor, with the agency in recent years enforcing stricter eligibility requirements for projects involving crosswind runways in cases where the prevailing wind favors the primary runway at least 94 percent of the time. Collins noted in his written testimony that the most recent (2014) plan for the airport's future included rehabilitation of the crosswind runway and construction of hangars on land that RIAC now seeks to sell for non-aeronautical use.

"Given the reduced utility of the airport with the loss of [the crosswind runway], a reduction in developable aeronautical land that depicts the construction of new hangars (areas H and B), while also removing another area where hangars were recently constructed (area F), it is difficult to ascertain how this proposal will not adversely affect the improvement and operation of the airport," Collins wrote.

The argument was not persuasive, though the FAA still has a say in whether RIAC is able to proceed with the runway closure and land transfer. Collins is working with the Rhode Island Pilots Association to push back on the runway closure. RIAC will need to formally request that the FAA release the agency from its grant obligations in order to transfer the property.

"In typical RIAC fashion, its management team is, as the adage goes, 'pennywise and pound-foolish,' while further minimizing the utility and self-sufficiency of its GA airports," Collins said.

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