Salisbury Regional Airport is Expected to Grow with Significant Investment in Infrastructure. 

MD – Salisbury Regional Airport is expected to grow with significant investment in infrastructure in the pipeline for the airport. APN Affiliate, Sarah McNelis sat down with Assistant Airport Director, Chris Davidson to discuss the current and future plans for the airport.  

Salisbury Regional Airport did fairly well going through the COVID-19 Pandemic. Although, load factors for outgoing flights went down a bit, they are now back to normal levels. There could be more flights going in and out of Salisbury, however, the pilot shortage that airlines are dealing with today is prohibiting them from expanding their routes.  

Salisbury is a fairly unique city. Three universities reside in the area which are Salisbury University, Wor-Wic Community College, and the University of MD Eastern Shore. Perdue Chicken provides a large source of jobs in the area. The city is close to the Wallops Flight Facility and NASA. The airport also has new drone facilities and capabilities on the airport. A new UAS drone facility opened at the airport in early 2021 bringing jobs and revenue to Salisbury. 

A new $3.3 million grant to Wicomico County was provided to help bolster the partnership between the Salisbury Regional Airport and UMES, by helping fund a new airplane maintenance technician (AMT) program. The program would begin with 20 students, and help the students get the skills required to repair Piedmont Airlines flights that fly daily to the airport. Piedmont Airlines says it would be a big boost for their hiring. 

The future is bright for Salisbury Regional Airport with the opening of a new AMT program. In Fall 2023, Runway 14/32 will be extended to 7,600 feet. The airport also has the goal of developing some of the unused land on the airport for aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities and for corporate hangars. 

Assistant Airport Director, Chris Davidson mentions that he wants Salisbury to prosper through jobs growth. The new AMT school opening means more mechanics, which would provide a great incentive for MROs to open up.  

The airport is slated to go through infrastructure improvement including an already completed state of the art ARFF building and future improvements to hangars, as well as air traffic control. Recently completed the rehabilitation of Taxiway A and modernizing the passenger parking lots. All of the modernization and significant investment in infrastructure at the airport will provide great incentives for the business aviation community to call Salisbury home.  The growth of Salisbury Regional is a labor a love of for Assistant Airport Director Chris Davidson.  He is dedicated to expanding opportunities for the local eastern shore economy.   According to Davidson: “The purpose of an airport is not aviation; it is regional jobs growth. Aviation is just how we meet our purpose.”