New airport ready to fly, as sun sets on old facility

ROANOKE RAPIDS — Manager Ralph Johnson locked the doors at the Halifax County Airport office Thursday evening, closing out 63 years of aviation history at the small airport.

Official operations were over and the new Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport is now open for business. Its official grand opening is planned for May 13.

The finishing touches are still under way at the new airport. The office furniture began arriving Friday afternoon making life a little easier for Johnson and Priscilla Dickens, the airport’s entire staff.

There are still 24 airplanes based at the old airport, according to Johnson. The new airport’s hangar is still under construction. The roof panels were being attached last week.

The new hangar will only accommodate 18 planes. The others will have to be housed elsewhere. The old airport will remain open for takeoffs and landings until all the planes are moved. Fuel and other services have already been moved to the new airport.

“It is not unusual to have two airports operating at the same time,” Johnson said. “It happens all the time. We are simply stopping the services at the old airport. Planes can land at either one for the time being, until the new hangers are ready.”

Johnson said it would be nearly impossible for one to close down and the other to open up on the same day and pointed out that the new runway was officially opened on March 12.

The new airport is still awaiting the instrument landing system promised by U.S. Congressman G.K. Butterfield. When it will be installed is uncertain.

There are striking differences between the old and new airports. The small cinder-block terminal building and the rusting metal, open-air hangars seem to give the appearance of a by-gone era when compared with the modern new facility.

While the old airport seems cramped, it sits just outside of the Roanoke Rapids city limits, the new one, located in a vast rural area off Grapevine Road, seems spacious and wide-open.

Eventually, the new Halifax Corporate Park will sit beside the new airport and a road will link the two.