Rains delay runway project: Greenwood copes with three-week airport closure

No planes buzzed over the Greenwood Municipal Airport for more than three weeks because a wet fall has delayed the runway expansion project.

The airport has been quiet for longer than expected because of the heavy rainfall that’s taken place since a $1.1 million runway-lengthening project started in mid-September. The airport was supposed to reopen Sept. 27 and the extended delay has been costly for the airport and businesses based out of it.

Pilots have been grounded and inconvenienced and local companies with planes kept at the airport haven’t been able to fly on business trips, airport manager Ralph Hill said. Mechanics based at the airport haven’t been able to work on planes or make money, and a temporarily relocated flight school also has been making less.

The city-run airport itself has suffered because it’s not selling fuel, its primary source of income, Hill said. The airport also has not had to buy fuel but lost an estimated $10,000 in aviation and jet fuel sales for each day it has been closed.