Runway Extension Project Completed November 13, 2001

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Runway 08/26 at Hector International Airport in Fargo was reopened on Tuesday after a summer long construction project lengthened the runway to 6,300 feet.

The runway originally opened in November 1993 at 4,385 feet (length) by 100 feet (width). It was primarily a general aviation aircraft runway limited to smaller propeller airplanes and business jets. Aircraft traffic has increased over the past few years and the need to extend the runway and make it available to a larger variety of aircraft existed. The runway will now be capable of handling aircraft of up to 100,000 pounds in landed weight. This includes larger business jets such as the Gulfstream V, Global Express and aircraft flown by United Express and Mesaba. Northwest Airlines and Airborne Express may also use the runway when certain wind conditions exist.

In addition to the runway extension a parallel taxiway to the runway was constructed, a perimeter road was installed, Cass County Drain 10 was rerouted to allow the extension of the runway and an arm/disarm pad for the Air National Guard was completed.

The $6.06 million project was initially scheduled to be completed over a two-year time period (2001-2002). Nodak Contracting from Grand Forks, ND was the prime contractor.

The Federal Aviation Administration, Municipal Airport Authority, State of North Dakota, and North Dakota Air National Guard funded the project.