Yeager Board Awards Customs Building Contract, Discusses Summersville Airport Plan

Dec. 3—Yeager Airport's governing board on Wednesday awarded a $3 million contract to build a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection building at the Charleston airport, and discussed the possibility of assuming a management role at Summersville Airport in Nicholas County.

Agsten Construction, of Hurricane, was awarded the contract to build the new U.S. Customs facility, which will take shape next to Capital Jet Service's private aircraft passenger terminal.

Groundbreaking for the 4,988-square-foot building, and the canopy-covered walkway that will connect it to the general aviation terminal, is expected to take place later this month. The contract calls for all work to be completed within 300 days of the award date.

Yeager Airport is West Virginia's sole port of entry for general aviation passengers and air freight arriving here directly from foreign countries. The new building will serve as a secure processing area for checking passports and visas of international passengers and the credentials of flight crews. It will also provide a secure, indoor site for inspecting auto parts and other imported materials arriving on air cargo flights from abroad.

Without a secure, freestanding Customs building, West Virginia's only port of entry would not be able to continue operating, according to federal guidelines.

A $2 million grant from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council will cover most of the construction costs.

In other business, board member Rodney LeRose, of Summersville, initiated a discussion about the possibility of Yeager Airport and the Nicholas County Airport Authority entering into an agreement in which the Charleston airport's staff would manage and market the Summersville Airport. In return, Yeager's Capital Jet Service would assume fuel sales at Summersville and Yeager would look into using the smaller airport as a staging area for its growing program of hosting military training operations.

The airport, located about two miles south of Summersville on the shoreline of Summersville Lake, has a 3,015-foot runway and self-serve fueling.

"It's a small, convenient airport that has some possibilities," said Ed Hill, president of Yeager's governing board, officially known as the South Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority. "It's worth looking into some more."

As work on the interior walls of Marshall University's new flight school classroom building gets underway, an updated consultant's report on the feasibility of a combination hotel/dormitory at the Charleston airport indicates a 125-room hotel is viable. Such a hotel's viability hinges on Marshall's guaranteed rental of a block of rooms and an affiliation with a nationally recognized lodging brand, according to Yeager Airport Director Nick Keller.

Preparation work is underway for pouring the concrete floor for the new hangar at Marshall's Bill Noe Flight School, scheduled to open next fall.

Wednesday's meeting was the first for new board member Ben Salango, who replaces Hoppy Shores in representing the Kanawha County Commission on the Yeager board.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at [email protected], 304-348-5169 or follow

@rsteelhammer on Twitter.

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