COEUR D’ALENE AIRPORT RUNWAY MODIFICATION PLAN HITS SNAG

A proposed runway project at Coeur d’Alene – Pappy Boyington Airport (KCOE) is facing headwinds from airport tenants who may end up bearing the brunt of the project’s $3.1 million price tag. The underlying issue is that the touchdown zones of runways 2 and 6 intersect in the northeast quadrant of the airport creating a safety hazard that runs afoul of FAA regulations.  

Discussions about how to modify the pavement in this area to ‘decouple’ the runways have been underway since 2017, with several proposals currently on the table. The option favored by airport tenants is to extend runway 2-20 but funding this option may require rent increases of up to 2 or 3 times present amounts and growth projections for air traffic do not justify it. An option to remove about 1,000 feet of runway 2-20 would satisfy the FAA, but tenants disfavor this option due to operational and economic considerations. Disagreements over this and other airport issues have led to a lawsuit being filed by several hangar owners. 

Airport Manager Steve Kjergaard indicated that the FAA has been working with the airport to potentially shift other projects around, and the decoupling can be deferred to 2025. Ultimately, however, if the issue is not fixed in an FAA-approved manner, funding for other projects could be cut.