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Inside Olympia — The Future of Aviation in Washington — Does It Include a New Airport? 

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This week on Inside Olympia, host Austin Jenkins sits down with David Fleckenstein, who heads the Aviation Division of the State Department of Transportation. Plus, Warren Hendrickson and Steve Edmiston, two members of the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC), created by the Legislature to identify and recommend options for expanding airport capacity in Washington — including the potential development of a whole new commercial airport.

Fleckenstein lays out the challenge: SeaTac Airport is nearing capacity, and if airport capacity is going to keep pace with the state’s population and economic growth, existing airports need to be expanded, and a new airport may need to be sited in Western Washington.

The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission made news recently when it released a report identifying possible new airport sites in Pierce and Thurston Counties, along with the potential expansion of Paine Field in Everett. Hendrickson and Edmiston point out that the CACC has not made a decision, and in fact is not empowered to do so — rather, by early next summer the CACC will give its recommendations to the Legislature, which has the final say.

Find out more about the search for new airport capacity, and what it could mean for Washington, this week on Inside Olympia.