White House official visits Fayetteville Airport to look at ongoing federally funded renovations

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Biden administration official visited Fayetteville on Thursday to look at two federally funded projects.

One is the Day Resource Center, a multipurpose facility offering resources to those without a home. The other is the Fayetteville Regional Airport that's been undergoing renovations.

"Fayetteville has become a regional, economic center of North Carolina. We want people flying directly into Fayetteville," said Tom Perez, the director for intergovernmental affairs of the Biden administration.

Officials said they're investing in Fayetteville's infrastructure to make it a bigger and better flight destination in North Carolina. Flyers said they're noticing the renovations, and that the changes are making it more comfortable and convenient to fly there.

"They have more amenities now than they used to have which is really nice so you just don't have to sit and wait for a long time without anything to drink or anything to eat," Rose Lada said.

Flyers said they're also noticing how improvements being made at the Fayetteville Airport have been in tandem with development projects around Fayetteville.

"I see a big change," said Christopher Greene of Fort Liberty. "They're--like I said--modernizing it. Catering more to a younger crowd with the baseball stadium, and downtown looks a lot different. Skibo looks a lot different."

Deontae Watson, the interim director of the Fayetteville airport, said it has received about $60 million in federal funds to update the facility since 2018. That's included construction to expand and modernize walkways and seating areas to make them more spacious for flyers. Officials also said they've been making updates to attract more airlines--an effort officials hope could translate to lower flight rates.

"We're continuing to expand the travel options to support the community needs...to increase that travel experience and also decrease that travel anxiety," Watson said.

"If you have more competition, you have better pricing," Perez said. "And right now, I'm confident that there are a lot of Fayetteville residents that are making a long drive so they can get a nonstop flight, and the more we can avoid that, the better off we are."