Wasilla weighs a plan to nearly double its airport runway

Wasilla wants to nearly double the length of its municipal airport runway, part of a roughly $279 million, 20-year plan that would let a small general-aviation field handle far larger aircraft — in a valley that is fast outgrowing its dependence on Anchorage.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is the fastest-growing part of Alaska. Its population has grown 18 percent since 2015 while Anchorage has been shrinking; the borough now builds roughly three times as many homes a year as Anchorage and has accounted for more than half of all new housing in Alaska since 2010. As that growth compounds — the valley is projected to keep gaining residents even as Anchorage is projected to lose them — Mat-Su has been steadily building out its own infrastructure. A bigger Wasilla airport, able to serve larger planes, is a piece of a region increasingly able to route around the state's largest city.

Nothing is being built yet. The Wasilla City Council's vote Monday would only introduce the airport master plan and send it to a Sept. 28 public hearing — not adopt it, and not spend anything. Each project inside it would come back later for its own funding decision.

At the heart of the plan is the runway. The primary strip now runs about 3,700 feet, enough for the small single-engine and bush planes that define general aviation but little more. The plan would extend it first to 5,100 feet and eventually to 6,000 feet, and widen it. A 6,000-foot runway can take regional commuter aircraft — the turboprops and small regional jets used for scheduled passenger flights — along with larger business jets and mid-size cargo planes, none of which the current field can handle. That is roughly the size that supports the scheduled and freight service Mat-Su residents now drive to Anchorage to reach. Whether airlines would actually fly it is a separate question, and depends on demand and facilities the airport doesn't yet have. The plan would also acquire roughly 229 acres around the field — including land the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry now sits on, which would relocate — and expand the airport's leasable business area severalfold.

Most of the cost would fall to the Federal Aviation Administration, which the plan assumes covers about 80 percent, leaving the city roughly $54 million. That federal share isn't guaranteed: the FAA decides eligibility project by project, and the full runway extension hinges on future proof of aircraft demand or economic activity that hasn't been generated yet.

The airport is also losing money, and has every year for a decade — in 2024 it took in about $153,000 and spent $287,000, and its full operating loss, counting depreciation, ran close to a million dollars. The plan is blunt that the city has been "under-charging for airport services," leaving it without reserves to maintain or replace facilities. To close that gap, it recommends raising aviation lease rates, charging market rates for non-aviation leases, and adding a per-gallon fuel fee — increases that would fall on the pilots and businesses that use the field.