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Social - April 2002 |
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UNC should keep airport May 29, 2002 - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the few campuses in the nation that has its own airport. You would think that would be a desirable asset for a globally-tuned, institution of higher learning. But UNC doesn’t seem interested in keeping the Horace Williams Airport open. The school has announced that it wants to close the airport to develop a technology park, office, and classroom complex on the thousand-acre tract which would become known as “Carolina North.” The announcement was met with surprise and disappointment to users of the airport. Earlier this month, the president of the 375,000-member Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Phil Boyer, met with House Speaker Jim Black to lobby for an extension of five years before closing the facility. Black is communicating with university officials on the request. We hope they will grant the extension and reconsider their decision on the airport. The advantages of an on-campus airport are obvious: a time-saving direct route to anyone in the world who wants to visit the campus; direct links for visiting academicians from international communities; quick connections for conferences and conventions; opportunities for students to enhance their academic work in any of the numerous ways airport accommodations can help. The list could go on and on. AOPA has suggested that maintaining Horace Williams Airport next to the planned development would make the technology park more desirable to the private businesses the university hopes to attract. A university consultant has already concluded that development plans and continued airport operations are compatible. AOPA has offered to help the airport obtain federal grants to help meet operational expenses. Meanwhile, we hope the university will reconsider the many benefits an airport provides. Certainly, universities have to expand and grow to meet the diverse needs of the future. It would seem an airport is more in keeping with the future than the past.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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