The Washington Manassas Airport Commission voted Oct. 15 to recommend that City Council award a roughly $29 million contract for a new air traffic control tower to Costello Construction, while also hearing calls from flight-school operators for better general aviation infrastructure on the west ramp and receiving briefings on a proposed airline incentive framework and Virginia Railway Express connections.
No specific airlines were named. At the commission’s Sept. 24 meeting, Airport Director Juan Rivera said he hoped the city’s commercial partner, Avports, would have at least one airline deal signed within three weeks. That window closed in mid-October without a public announcement. On Oct. 15, Avports representatives said they remain in talks with multiple carriers and are still targeting a November start for commercial service next year, but the airlines have asked that the discussions not be disclosed until the carriers are ready to make their own announcements.
Tower recommendation moves forward
The commission recommended that City Council budget and appropriate the necessary funding and award the construction contract to Costello Construction of Columbia, Maryland. The firm was the low bidder, coming in at approximately $29 million — about $10 million below the second-lowest bid and within roughly $800,000 of the design team’s estimate.
Funding is expected to come from an approximately $26 million Federal Aviation Administration grant under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, about $1.2 million in state matching funds, and the airport’s restricted capital account. Rivera said the preference is to use restricted capital rather than unrestricted fund balance. The total project is estimated at about $38 million, of which roughly $3 million has already been spent. Restricted capital on hand was cited in the range of $32 million.
A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 20. The tower structure itself is projected to take about 18 months, followed by roughly six months of FAA avionics and equipment work, with completion targeted around June 2029. Rivera emphasized that no construction contract will be signed until the grants are in hand and City Council has budgeted and appropriated the funds. The item will require a public hearing and council action, likely in late November or December.
Flight schools press for west-ramp investment
Three general aviation operators used the public comment period to urge the commission to include existing flight schools and other GA users in long-term planning as commercial development advances.
Keith Teaster, co-owner of Elevation Aviation Flight Training and a retired Air Force officer who flies as a 737 captain, said general aviation currently occupies nearly all of the airport’s landscape yet received little formal attention during a recent retreat beyond being listed as a weakness and threat in a SWOT analysis. He called for a documented 20- to 30-year strategic vision that defines which segments of general aviation the airport intends to support.
Nicole Boone, business manager at Aero Relief Flight Training (based at the APP Jet Center FBO and operating since about 2019), said the school has grown from two to eight aircraft and maintains contracts with area universities and the Aviation Institute of Maintenance. She asked for clearer communication about construction phases and for infrastructure on the west ramp so students and instructors have a place to gather out of the elements.
Bob Hepp, chief instructor at Aviation Adventures, noted that five of the airport’s eight general aviation-oriented businesses are flight schools and that all five have been consolidated to the west ramp. Four of those schools still have offices on the east side, forcing customers and staff to drive across the field for every flight. He described limited recent construction on the west side — essentially a pair of portable toilets — and said the west ramp is next-to-last in snow-removal priority while the access road used to bring fuel is last. Hepp cited $32.2 million in restricted capital funds and $13.3 million in unrestricted cash and urged the airport to spend some of it on west-side facilities that serve local students and the broader community.
Chairman Roderick Hall thanked the speakers and noted that many of the issues had been discussed at the recent retreat. No votes were taken on general aviation infrastructure or a strategic plan.
Incentive framework for new air service
A consultant working with Rivera outlined a recommended Air Service Incentive Program designed to complement a phased approach to full cost-recovery landing fees. Under the proposal, the full cost-recovery landing fee would be phased in over six years — 20% in years one and two, then 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%. The phase-in would apply to all aircraft operations, including general aviation.
For commercial service, the framework would offer a full landing-fee waiver for up to two years on a new nonstop destination, awarded on a first-come, first-served basis so that a second airline serving the same market would not also receive the landing-fee waiver. New-entrant airlines would also receive a fuel-flowage fee waiver of 100% in the first year and 50% in the second year, regardless of markets served. The proposal includes no clawback provision in the early years and no airport-funded marketing subsidy; the airport would promote service through its own channels and airlines could access the Commonwealth’s Governor’s New Airlines Service Incentive Fund for marketing support.
Rivera and the consultant said the structure is intended to encourage early service while protecting the airport’s net operating income. No formal vote was taken; the presentation was described as a framework for the commission to use going forward.
VRE positions Broad Run for airport connections
Katie Choe, president and CEO of Virginia Railway Express, briefed the commission on VRE’s System Plan 2050 and the role of the Broad Run station. The 2030 milestone calls for a 62% increase in service, seven-day operation, peak frequencies of 15 to 20 minutes, and the addition of off-peak, reverse and weekend trains. By 2050 the plan envisions roughly 2½ times today’s service levels with full bidirectional operation.
Broad Run is VRE’s second-busiest station and already provides a direct connection to the airport. The expansion project — which includes yard growth, a new facility for railroad workers, an in-house train wash, and relocation of the station fully into the City of Manassas — is critical to accepting 21 new railcars scheduled for delivery in early 2028. Design has been substantially complete since January 2025; the project is ready to bid once remaining property acquisition (including airport property) and permits are finished.
Choe noted that VRE already connects to Reagan National via Crystal City and, through MARC, to Baltimore-Washington International. With the airport’s commercial service, the system will have direct or near-direct links to three of the region’s four commercial airports. Marketing of the expanded service is expected to ramp up closer to the 2030 turn-on rather than immediately.
The commission took no action on the VRE presentation.
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