Redding Regional Airport postpones runway upgrade due to 'funding challenges'

Redding officials said federal "funding challenges" have led to the postponement of its plan to resurface the main runway and upgrade the runway lighting at Redding Regional Airport, a major overhaul that would've closed the airport for a month this fall.

Originally scheduled for October 2024, the project will now be rescheduled to a similar timeframe in 2025, city officials said in a press announcement on Friday.

"This decision comes from funding challenges faced by the Federal Aviation Administration, stemming from delays in reauthorization bills, partial funding allocations through continuing resolutions and the inflationary impacts on construction costs," the city said.

City officials said they will continue to "collaborate closely with the FAA." The federasl agency remains supportive of the airport's renovation project "and recognizes its importance as a high-priority initiative for the following year."

Original runway upgrade plan: Redding Regional Airport could close to travelers for a month this fall due to runway work

The city applied for a multi-million-dollar federal grant to carry out the work at its airport. Officials expect to hear if the city got the Federal Aviation Administration grant in early June, Assistant City Manager Steve Bade said last week. Bade said at that time: “We have been working on this for five years, so we are pretty hopeful."

The last time the runway was resurfaced was in 2001.

For more information and updates on the Redding Regional Airport Runway Rehabilitation Project, please visit www.cityofredding.gov/airportprojects.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: No runway work at Redding Regional Airport this fall. What happened?