The City of Lumberton is moving forward with a new terminal project at the Lumberton Regional Airport. It’s a collaborative effort involving several partners, including Cooper Tacia General Contractors, Talbert & Bright, Stewart, The Wilson Group and others. This exciting step for the city emphasizes economic development, infrastructure investment and regional accessibility.

Lumberton Regional Airport, located at 163 Airport Blvd. in Lumberton, is a city-owned airport that services general aviation aircraft. Recently Lumberton has been experiencing a boom of growth, and the airport is expanding to keep up with the developing city.

“We’ve had a lot of growth over the last four years, and it just does not seem to be slowing down. We’re just picking up the pace and expanding more,” shared Lumberton Regional Airport Director Gary Lewis.

Several projects have already been completed at the airport. The airport previously received just over $9 million in funding to construct a new taxi way and extend an existing taxi way. They also recently completed a $2.4 million project where they installed a new 12,000 gallon aviation fuel tank that holds fuel for smaller aircraft, then also a new 12,000 gallon jet fuel tank that holds fuel for jets and turbine engines that come in. Additionally, the airport built a tower to monitor the weather to keep pilots aware and prepared. That was an additional $152,000.

This next expansion of Lumberton Regional Airport includes the construction of a 12-unit T-hangar (17,550 sq. ft.) and a two-unit box hangar (12,000 sq. ft.), designed to support the airport’s continued growth and development.
Lewis shared that Lumberton Regional Airport currently has a waiting list for people looking for a hangar to house their plane in. This new 12-unit hangar will help them meet that need.

“What the 12-unit T-hangar does is it allows us to be able to house 12 more aircraft. And so that does several things. It helps us and the pilots to have a place to put their plane...And so those will help them out, but it also helps the county and the city out, because each one of those, they’re going to make a lot of money on the taxes, so that increases that tax base for the county and the city...the two-sided box hangar, it’s a rather large hanger... What we’ll be using that one for is to attract business here,” explained Lewis.

The cost of these additional projects has already been covered through legislative funding. Lumberton Regional Airport received about $10 million to help cover the cost of expansions. These two new hangars cost about $6.6 million, and the money leftover will go towards further development.

Lewis shared that they’ve completed the design phase and hope to break ground on the projects within the next one to two months. Both hangars will be constructed simultaneously. The goal is to have the box hangar finished within six to eight months, and then the T-hangar finished within 10 to 12 months.

“The more the airport expands, the more it can assist the county and the city in growth as well. So that’s what we’re hoping to do. My title is airport director. It's not economic development director, but you tend to go hand in hand and work together on some of these [efforts]. So the more we expand, the more the economics of the city and the county is going to expand as well. And then, of course, some of the projects that are going on in the county and city, like over at the business park, eventually, that’s going to drive more traffic at the airport as well,” added Lewis.

With continued investment and a focus on meeting community needs, Lumberton Regional Airport is poised to play an even greater role in the region’s economic development and connectivity. The airport’s expansion is about more than infrastructure, it’s about positioning Lumberton as a hub for business growth and opportunity in southeastern North Carolina.