Virginia lawmakers to consider proposal to support regional airports

Virginia lawmakers will soon consider a bill that could help to bring larger airlines to smaller airports and support the growth of regional airports in the commonwealth.

Last session, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and lawmakers settled on a biennium budget that included several transportation investments, including $1 million to establish an Advanced Air Aviation Test Site from the Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund and $350,000 to study implementing “emerging technologies,” including Advanced Air Mobility.

With the significant investments, Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick, said he decided to carry his bill that would redirect tax revenues from vehicle rentals to support aviation laws and construction, maintenance, and improvement of airports in the commonwealth in the upcoming session.

Currently, the tax revenues from vehicle rentals go from the Commonwealth Transportation Fund to the Aviation Special Fund.

Williams said the revenue amount is small, but it could help the commonwealth when it has to fully fund aviation projects and match grants from the federal government.

“There’s always the need to help improve the infrastructure of airports and aviation in Virginia, especially with our current administration and Boeing and others that have come into Virginia as an aviation hub,” Williams said.

While Virginia’s heavily used airports, such as Dulles and Richmond International, receive much attention, Williams said it’s important to support smaller airports, which lack necessary facilities such as runway extensions, hangar spaces, and control towers.

Williams said the bill also considers the future of uncrewed aerial vehicles and the need for dedicated infrastructure.

In October, aviation and economic experts briefed House and Senate Transportation Committee members about “advanced air mobility” at the state’s annual transportation conference.

Advanced air mobility has grown in popularity as a way to offer travel and delivery services and, at the same time, promise to reduce greenhouse gases. Virginia lawmakers prepare for a future filled with highly automated aircraft

However, because the technologies are new, regulations and infrastructure are still under development.

According to the nonprofit group Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), the advanced air mobility industry, as it is known, could generate $16 billion in new business activity in the commonwealth.

The opportunity is “huge,” House Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, told the Mercury at last month’s transportation conference, adding that it is vital for lawmakers to begin discussing now some of the regulatory considerations and incentives that will be needed “because the future is here.”

John Campbell Jr., deputy director for the Virginia Department of Education, said if the bill were to become law, the money would go into the Aviation Fund, which provides funding for planning and engineering projects that focus on airport facility development.

“In general,” Campbell said, “these projects include master plan and airport layout plan studies; environmental studies; land acquisition; airside facility design and construction; and terminal building design and construction.”