A runway is important to Western North Carolina! Take a journey with us to learn why.

They say a mile of highway will take you a mile but a mile of runway will take you anywhere. When your plane takes the runway at Asheville Regional Airport, takeoff thrust is applied and after approximately one mile of acceleration, you gracefully begin to soar airborne. You didn’t just depart for Atlanta, Charlotte, Florida, New York or Chicago. You just entered the vast, global air transportation network. You could be headed to the other side of the state or the other end of the globe.

At a glance, a runway may appear to only be pavement with different colored lights and paint, but a runway is the greatest gateway to the world a community can possess, and a massive economic engine as well (to the tune of half a billion dollars in this case). At AVL, our runway allows our community to do business all over the world. It allows residents of Asheville and western North Carolina to easily venture to any point on the planet they please. Like a highway, a runway is also omnidirectional, both physically and figuratively. That same runway that lets you jet off to London for business or glide into Palm Beach for vacation also allows business travelers and visitors from far away places to come to our community. It lets them invest in our region — our families, businesses and quality of life — by bringing their own business here, visiting WNC to shop or sight-see and to experience this amazing region we call home.

It’s for all of these reasons that the runway at AVL is worthy of our care and attention. Right now, we’re in the third of four construction phases that will result in a brand new runway, which translates to new opportunities for WNC. Starting this month and continuing over the next year, you’ll be able to see the construction of the new runway here at AVL as your flights take off and land on a temporary runway that is serving as a literal stepping stone to the future.

Near the end of 2017, you will board a jet at Asheville Regional Airport. When your plane crosses the threshold of the runway and takeoff thrust is applied, you will accelerate down the smooth pavement, passing lights and runway markers, knowing that this mile of runway is taking our community higher and is giving you the power to go anywhere.

Please take a moment to learn more about our important runway project, titled "Project SOAR."