The Santa Fe Regional Airport has received a $2.39 million Federal Aviation Administration airport infrastructure grant to rebuild the taxiway at the south end of the main runway, federal and city sources said.
The new taxiway will enable the airport to increase the maximum weight of aircraft from 105,000 pounds to 269,000 pounds, aircraft director Mark Baca said.
Baca said American Airlines is considering upgrading from a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ400 regional jet to a 75-seat CRJ900. United Airlines is exploring swapping out a 50-seat Embraer ERJ145 for a 64-seat ERJ 175 with 12 first-class seats.
“[The ERJ 175] has a range of 1,800 miles,” Baca said in an interview. “Maybe they can fly to Houston or Chicago.”
Larger corporate jets also will be able to fly through Santa Fe. The limit now is the 16-passenger Gulfstream IV, but Baca said the new taxiway will be able to handle 35-seat corporate jets.
Some corporate jets are larger than the commercial regional jets, Baca noted.
This second phase of a runway and taxiway improvement project will address about 2,500 feet of the 3,000-foot taxiway. The $2 million first phase was done from March to June of 2018, Baca said.
The contract for the second phase will be awarded at the end of November, with construction likely in between March and June.
The project is fully funded by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We are continuing to plan and build a Santa Fe Regional Airport that is modernized, improved and expanded and becomes a linchpin in boosting the economy of Santa Fe and all of Northern New Mexico,” Baca said in a statement.
The FAA also awarded $2.81 million to Las Cruces International Airport for apron rehabilitation and $2.97 million to Portales Municipal Airport for runway reconstruction.
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