MANASSAS, Va. — Inside the terminal at the Manassas Regional Airport, change is on the way. By next year, the terminal could see commercial flights.
“Airports go through a life cycle,” Bob Happ of Aviation Adventures flight school said. “They start off with smaller planes and then add flight school, eventually bigger planes.”
For more than 20 years, Happ and his flight school have called the terminal home. But, he didn’t think he would see large commercial flights into the airport.
“To make the jump, for an airport to go to commercial level traffic as opposed to just charter is a big jump.” He said.
When will commercial airline flights come to Manassas airport?
We’ve told you about the plan for the regional airport to add commercial flights. A few snags means it will be another year before the new phase of the Manassas airport takes off.
“Avports entered into this franchise agreement with the city for 40 years,” Pranav Trivedi, the Avports executive on the Manassas airport project said.
More than a year ago, the city signed off on the plan to add itself to a crowded D.C. metro airport environment.
“The other three big airports, have either a very limited capacity for new carriers to enter or there are significant cost challenges because those airports are not cheap to fly into,” Trivedi said.
Trivedi pointed out that Manassas’ runway can handle everything from regional to national flights.
“Our plan is to open the airport in two phases,” Trivedi said. “Phase one (first commercial flights) could open for service next year. Then phase two would be the end of the following year is the current schedule we're looking at.”
That will mean adding three gates by next year coming from the terminal and adding up to two more in the future which could eventually accommodate 30 flights daily.
But there’s still security certification, airport certification, and construction for that happens.
“I guess it's good news for the airport,” Happ said. “I would be very happy if this weren't happening, but it's going to happen, and we just got to make the best of it.”
When the commercial flights start in 2025 Aviation Adventures will have to relocate somewhere else on airport grounds.