Kenai airport reopens its main runway, but its instrument landing system awaits FAA check

Kenai Municipal Airport has finished rehabilitating its main runway, Airport Manager Rick Johnson told the Kenai Airport Commission on Oct. 8.

Planes returned to the runway around 3 am Oct. 2, according to Johnson's September mid-month report to the Kenai City Council. The airport's instrument landing system remains out of service pending a Federal Aviation Administration flight check. No timeline has been set for its return, the report said.

The runway closed May 15, and Taxiway Alpha served as a temporary runway through the summer. Paving finished Aug. 14, followed by a 30-day period for the asphalt to cure, and grooving was set to begin the week of Sept. 8, according to the August mid-month report. At the commission's Sept. 10 meeting, the project engineer said the runway was on schedule to reopen around Sept. 21. It reopened 11 days after that date.

Taxiway Alpha is now being converted back from its temporary runway setup, with crack sealing and painting underway, the September report said. Johnson told the commission the airport's taxiway project was expected to finish by mid-October.

He said the airport's updated stormwater pollution prevention plan is now expected by the end of November, a month later than his September report had projected.

Johnson also said the Air Force wants to renew an agreement for weather cameras at the airport's operations building. LifeMed Alaska has applied for a permit to store its ambulance in the airport's warm storage this winter.