FAA grants $9.3 million for Tinian runway expansion

The Federal Aviation Administration has granted a total of $9.3 million in assistance for the construction of a new runway on the island-municipality of Tinian.

According to Carlos H. Salas, executive director of the Commonwealth Ports Authority, this brings to $12.8 million the total amount of money now available for the project.

“We are very appreciative of their assistance and perhaps, additional funds may become available in the near future,” said Salas.

CPA management and consultants are now developing a draft bid documents for the project which may be released before the end of the year.

FAA has approved the construction of a new runway measuring about 7,800 ft. in length. The length of the runway would still allow wide-body aircraft to land except a B747. The original plan was to build an 8,600 ft runway to accommodate a B747 on Tinian.

Construction of the new runway on 8th Avenue will be carried out in three phases and is expected to be finished in three years.

FAA had earlier rejected the proposal of the Tinian Legislative Delegation to extend the existing runway instead of developing a new one because it would encroach on Broadway Avenue and would not meet the 1,000 ft safety area requirement.

The Tinian Delegation earlier issued a resolution seeking an amendment to the FAA approved plan because local leaders believe that by extending the existing runway, the airport would be able to immediately accommodate larger aircraft for passengers directly to and from various destinations.

However, since the Tinian Delegation’s proposal is not included in the original master plan for Tinian airport, the ports authority will be required to make an expensive environmental impact study, which would take about a year.

Considering all these constraints, FAA advised the ports authority to stick to the original plan and reduce the runway to 7,800 ft. Due to the urgency of improving the existing runway, the Tinian Delegation had approved the transfer of over $3 million from the Covenant 702 Capital Improvement Project funds originally allotted for the Tinian Civic Center.

The Tinian Delegation had emphasized that development of Tinian Dynasty & Casino hinges on the capability of the existing West Tinian Airport to accommodate bigger aircraft and bring in the needed number of visitors through direct flights to the island.