F L Y I N G T O : N O R T H C A R O L I N A
PTI owns 1,000 acres of undeveloped land which
Baker says is ready to be developed. A taxiway
with a bridge over an interstate highway is
already being built to access the site and PTI’s
ambitions for the site are lofty.
“Our goal is to be the Wichita of the
East,” says Baker.
Coastal access
Wichita employs more than 50,000
aerospace workers and is the business
aviation capital of the world, so PTI has a
long way to go to challenge that position,
unless you start counting other locations of
business aviation activity in North Carolina.
Andrew Shorter, airport director at Coastal
Carolina Regional Airport in New Bern believes his
airport provides business aviation and corporations with
the access they require to coastal region of the state. The
airport serves general aviation on one side and airlines on
the other. The airports Shell-branded Tidewater Air Services
is an FBO with a 4000ft building that includes a conference
room, kitchen and showers.
A US$5.5 million apron expansion at the airport just
added two acres of surface and the improvement makes
way for heavier aircraft. The airport has a 6,450ft and
a 4,000ft runway and aims to grow its 250,000 annual
passenger traffic.
Shorter is president of the North Carolina Airports
Association (NCAA) and says that their motto is that airports
32 | BU S INE S S A I R P O RT INT E RNAT I ONA L JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0
in the state “mean business”. He says of the state’s
airports “are aware that corporate and business aviation
are important and bend over backwards to serve them.”
“The corporate terminal at Coastal Carolina
Regional is the front door to the community out here in
Eastern North Carolina,” says Shorter. “If there is a large,
multimillion-dollar site selection going on in New Bern, the
principals won’t drive in, they will fly in.”
Shorter hopes more aerospace business will come to
the area. US Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point is just
12 miles away from New Bern. The Cherry Point base
hosts the US Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East and
specializes in maintaining advanced technology such as
F-35 lift fans. Fleet Readiness Center East is the largest
industrial employer in Eastern North Carolina with more than
4,000 employees.
Around the state
Just 40 miles west of New Bern is Kinston Regional Jetport.
The state-owned 2,500 acre Global Transpark industrial
park adjoins the airport. Spirit AeroSystems manufactures
parts for the Airbus A350 there and also has a 3,000ft
The economic benefit of
public airports in North
Carolina is more than
US$52 billion per year
Above: Coastal Carolina
Regional Airport in North
Carolina received a US$5
million grant to build a new
rescue and fire fighting
services building
Above right: The airport serves
general aviation on one side
and airlines on the other