The Manassas City Council gave final approval late Friday to a plan to add commercial passenger service to its regional airport.
Manassas Regional Airport already is the busiest general aviation airport in the commonwealth with about 100,000 flights a year. Airport management company Avports wants to add passenger service by investing up to $125 million to triple the terminal size and make other improvements. When the expansion is complete, up to 30 passenger flights a day could be offered, airport officials said.
“This is a game changer for the Prince William region, I mean, more so than pretty much anything I think we’ve seen in a long time,” Manassas Regional Airport Commission Chairman Ross Snare said. “This is a once, pretty much, in a generational kind of change.”
Snare sees the expansion as a complement to Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport – not competition.
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“We’re not building a new Dulles out there in Manassas,” he said. “That’s something I want to make very clear to people. It’s going to be between four and six gates at max capacity.”
At a public hearing, some residents were thrilled about the economic boost passenger travel could bring.
“Along with the jobs that it’s going produce along with the elevation of our visibility and what it’s going to bring to our city, this is the logical next step,” Cheryl Macias said.
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But other residents who live in communities near the airport expressed concern about the added flights and added noise.
“I can’t image what an additional 30 flights a day, if it ever comes to that, what that would sound like,” Lyle Sebranek said.
Evaluating noise and environmental impacts will be part of a study the Federal Aviation Administration will do before it decides whether to sign off on the plan.
Snare is optimistic about approval and thinks the first, lower-fare flights to places like Florida could come as soon as 2025.
“I would definitely fly out of Manassas any opportunity that I get,” Snare said.
“We’re planning a seven minutes from curbside to your gate and in the flight at Manassas airport,” he said.
Manassas leaders also hope it will take the community’s profile to new heights.
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