A record 760,000 passengers in 2024, and projected 2025 totals that will “blow those numbers out of the water,” says the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport executive director. ROA executive director Mike Stewart says extending the east-west runway over I-581 for safety reasons has been on the wish list for a long while – and is part of the Master Plan which must be approved by the FAA. The Federal Aviation Administration will let the Airport Commission put together the runway extension plan, but Stewart says the passenger numbers aren’t there yet to receive federal funding. That’s a future project says Stewart; for now the security checkpoints will be addressed. WFIR’s Gene Marrano reports:
