• Printer Friendly
• Email Page

Speech

Dulles Runway Dedication

This is a great day for aviation — three runway openings in one day, and Dulles is where it all begins.

As you know, it usually takes about ten years to get a runway built. Long before the folks in the hardhats show up, it takes about a decade of planning, designing, public hearings, and environmental testing.

But what it takes most of all is sheer political will and leadership to get it done. And I want to congratulate Jim Bennett and everyone at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, as well as the local community, for having the forethought to come together and get this project off the ground, no pun intended.

Let me tell you, One Left-Nineteen Right is a beautiful sight. As a former airline pilot myself, I flew in here quite a few times over the years and there’s nothing a pilot likes more than to touch down or take off on a new slab of concrete.

In the days ahead, there are going to be a lot of tire marks on the runway. And that’s a good thing.

Tire marks mean the runway is doing what it’s supposed to do — free-up capacity and jolt some life into the economy.

Aviation is an engine of freedom and economic power. You’ll be glad to know that the FAA is working with other airports on various airfield projects so that they, too, can experience the same benefits that Virginia is about to.

Dallas/Ft. Worth is expected to open an end-around taxiway next month. Philadelphia is getting a runway extension by the spring of next year. Also in 2009, Boston Logan is opening a centerfield taxiway. And Charlotte will have a new runway by 2010. Let it be said that when you keep airports strong, you keep communities strong.

I think it’s only appropriate that aviation history is being made at Dulles, which President Kennedy once called “a distinguished ornament of a great country.” He was right.

He said those very words nearly 46 years ago to the day, November 17, 1962, when Dulles was dedicated. And they still ring true today.

Thank you.