Aviation View | Volume 2, Issue 1

53 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 RALE IGH EXECUT I VE JETPORT “Our general aviation airport has played an important part in the area’s overall success,” says Airport Director Robert Heuts. “The Triangle area is arguably the most dynamic region in the country, and this development has been ongoing for 20 to 40 years.” With the always-growing volume of air and vehicle traffic at Raleigh-Durham International, outlying general aviation airports have been able to capitalize on commercial opportunities. For Raleigh Exec, that includes working with world-renowned companies nearby, including Caterpillar, Pfizer, and Moen, now part of the Fortune Brand Group. Raleigh Exec operates on 700 acres off U.S. 1 at Exit 76 (Farrell Road), just 15 miles from the Triangle Parkway I-540. While the location is not in the center of the Research Triangle’s core communities, the airport does offer quick and easy access to Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and the Research Triangle Park— as well as Cary, Apex, Sanford and the up-and-coming Chatham Park, a massive live-work-play community just beginning its decades of development. About 185 airplanes are now based at the airfield – a mixture of single and twin engines, small jets, and turboprop aircraft – but the airport’s management team is especially focused on attracting corporate jets. According to Heuts, “We’re hoping to grow our share of small jets and have added new areas for larger hangars to be built quickly to house larger aircraft.” Like other general aviation airports around the country, Raleigh Exec is struggling to keep up with the growing demand for hangar space to store aircraft. Currently, there are 99 T-hangars on-site and leased on a monthly basis for smaller aircraft, but the waiting list has another 50 to 60 names. The good news is that Raleigh Exec has just completed a large, 17,050 square-