New $1 billion runway to open at Lambert Airport

~ A decade after construction began, air traffic is down and American Airlines cut its St. Louis flight schedule.

ST. LOUIS -- Airport and city officials will gather Thursday to open Lambert Airport's new runway, a 9,000-foot-long ribbon of concrete that cost $1.1 billion to build and was the most expensive improvement project in St. Louis history.

But few, if any, passengers will notice, airport director Kevin Dolliole said. That's because the runway was intended to reduce delays that no longer exist. In the last five years, delays of 30 minutes or more at Lambert dropped by half without it, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

"The flying public doesn't recognize delays until they get to be pretty extreme," said Dolliole, who took over as director in May. "Unless we were back in the situation of extreme delays on a regular basis, they won't notice the impact or the difference."

Lambert faces a different reality than the busy conditions it faced in the 1990s when the federal government approved the runway plan in 1998. Back then Lambert was TWA's primary hub. Strong storms or heavy fog restricted landings to one runway, triggering a backlog that rippled across the country.

'No regrets'

But while there were plenty of supporters for the new runway, not everyone liked Lambert's plans. Construction meant razing more than 2,000 homes, churches, schools and businesses in neighboring Bridgeton. Residents argued that the runway would bring airport noise to their living rooms.

Now a decade later, Lambert air traffic was 36 percent less than before Sept. 11, 2001, and before American Airlines cut its St. Louis flight schedule by half. Delays are down. All but two of the 14 gates in Concourse D are empty.

Nevertheless, Leonard Griggs, who retired as Lambert Field's airport director 15 months ago, said he has no regrets. Lambert's reality in the 1990s, he said, presented him with no other choice but to press ahead.

Aviation officials also say it was impossible to predict the changing circumstances that followed Sept. 11. The prospect of TWA's demise was considered when putting together the financing plan for expansion, Griggs said. But no one forecast the cuts that American Airlines would make in 2003, he said.

"While they went through a rocky period, we were very optimistic for their continued growth in St. Louis," Griggs said.

Federal aviation officials argued that a new runway addressed problems that went beyond St. Louis. They said it was essential to improving the national airspace system.

"Based on everything that was happening from 1980 to 2000, that runway was desperately needed," said Tom Coates, who retired in February as the FAA's airport capacity manager for the Midwest.

Future benefit

In July, airlines will begin paying their 23 percent share of the runway's costs. The cost to airlines will amount to a $1 surcharge for every boarding passenger at Lambert. The rest of the money comes from the airport and the FAA, from funds financed by user fees.

When asked if the runway is worth the money, Pete Houghton, director of properties for Southwest Airlines, said it's a difficult question to answer given current traffic.

"We obviously think the runway, if you started it today, wouldn't be necessary," he said.

But Dolliole, current airport director, said the runway will benefit the airport. Traffic has steadily increased since American reductions in 2003. As more flights come online, he said, the airport will be more capable to handle them.

Without it, delays "would continue to build and we'd eventually get back to a point where we were before when it was quite noticeable," he said.