Fernandina Beach Airport Master Plan Update Puts Runway Options/Community Impacts in Spotlight

By Mike Lednovich/Editor

Concerns over aircraft noise, flight training activity, and the future configuration of Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport’s runways framed the opening meeting Wednesday of the airport’s FAA-mandated master plan update, as aviation consultants presented early survey results, historical flight data, and conceptual runway options that could shape airport development over the next 20 years.

The City's Master Plan Technical Advisory Committee meeting marked the first of four planned sessions intended to provide user-specific technical input as consultants inventory existing airport conditions, analyze flight activity, and evaluate preliminary airfield concepts, all of which will feed into an updated airport layout plan required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The meeting formally launched the master plan update for Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport, a process that applies to airports that accept federal grant funding. According to consultants, the last airport master plan was completed in 2015, and FAA guidance typically calls for updates every eight to 10 years.

“This is our first technical advisory committee meeting for the master plan update here at Fernandina Beach,” said Ryan Allen, FAA program manager and community planner. “The main intent of tonight’s meeting… is twofold.” He said the first purpose was to provide “master planning one-on-one,” including the process and schedule, while the second was to introduce “very high-level, preliminary… airfield design concepts.”

Allen told the committee - comprised of airport tenants, businesses and pilots - that the FAA asked the project team to advance airfield geometry analysis earlier than usual because of the airport’s complex three-runway layout and existing funding associated with Runway 13-31 improvements.

Consultants reported that public and tenant surveys are already generating substantial feedback. As of late January, approximately 370 public responses and 44 tenant responses had been received, with surveys remaining open throughout the planning process.

Allen said the public survey’s top tier concerns focused on environmental and noise impacts, flight school activity, and traffic on surrounding roadways.

“Without a doubt, it’s noise and it’s limiting flight schools and touch-and-go activity,” Allen said while reviewing the survey summary.

He noted that airport tenants expressed different priorities, particularly regarding the availability of hangar space.

“What the general public rated as tier one (most important), the tenants rated that as tier two (secondary concerns), and then vice versa,” Allen said.

Committee members questioned whether the surveys reflected a representative sample of the community. Allen acknowledged the concern.

“That’s fair,” he said, adding that the surveys are not random and will continue to be promoted to encourage broader participation.

Consultants presented historical aircraft operations data based on GPS-based tracking technology known as Virtower, which has been installed statewide by the Florida Department of Transportation. Virtower is a GPS-based aircraft activity tracking system used by airports to measure flight operations more accurately than traditional FAA counting methods.

According to senior aviation planner Mike Kotlow with AVCON, Inc., the airport recorded 52,537 aircraft operations during the 2025 base year.

“We based it off fiscal year… to get our initial baseline year number of 52,537 operations,” Kotlow said.

Kotlow noted a significant increase from 2024, when operations totaled roughly 41,000, a trend he said has appeared across Florida airports.

“There was just… a big spike,” he said. “Nearly every airport we look at.”

The forecast being developed as part of the master plan will project aviation activity through 2045 and will be presented at a future Technical Advisory Committee meeting before being submitted to the FAA and Florida Department of Transportation for review and approval.

A central topic of the meeting was runway utilization and geometry. Consultants told the committee that while Runway 13-31 is the most heavily used runway, the airport’s three-runway system provides nearly complete wind coverage when considered together.

“When you combine your wind coverage with the three runways that you have, you have pretty much 100% coverage,” Kotlow said.

FAA Planner Ryan Allen led the discussion.

Several preliminary airfield sketches were presented, including concepts that would maintain the existing runway configuration, decouple intersecting runways, or remove one runway entirely. Consultants emphasized that the sketches are conceptual and intended to identify advantages, disadvantages, and potential safety or community impacts.

“These are conceptual,” Allen said. “As part of the preliminary planning process we consider all options.”

Committee members were asked to review the concepts, identify strengths and potential “fatal flaws,” and consider impacts not only to airport operations but also to the surrounding community.

The master plan process is expected to take approximately 18 to 19 months and will include four Technical Advisory Committee meetings and two public open houses. The next committee meeting is anticipated this spring, when consultants plan to present the draft aviation forecast prior to FAA review.

“We do anticipate four of them,” Allen said of the committee meetings. “This is the first one.”

Public meetings are expected later in 2026 and again in 2027 before the draft master plan is finalized and submitted for approval, a step that will ultimately guide future airport development, funding eligibility, and land-use decisions for the City of Fernandina Beach over the next two decades.