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During its quarterly meeting last week, the Virginia Aviation Board allocated more than $6.5 million to General Aviation airports across the Commonwealth.

The Lunenburg County Airport is getting more than $900,000 to construct two projects.

Constructed in the 1960s, the Lunenburg Airport is somewhat smaller than the nearby airport in Farmville.

According to the Virginia Aviation Board Lunenburg County Airport is approved to receive a total of $925,860 for construction projects that include $719,935 for runway rehabilitation and $205,925 for apron rehabilitation.

Donald Robertson Region 6 Representative for the Virginia Aviation Board said Lunenburg applied and received the funding through the Commonwealth Aviation Fund.

“The Virginia Aviation Board provides funding to airports such as Lunenburg to support aviation-related projects across the Commonwealth,” Robertson said. “We hope that it allows the Lunenburg airport to continue to serve the aviation community for years to come.”

The K-V Dispatch reached out to Lunenburg County officials for comment on how this funding would benefit the airport and the county however as of press time officials have declined to comment.

In a 2021 interview with The K-V Dispatch Larry Way, airport manager explained that each month, pilots fly into and out of the Lunenburg County Airport, making the small rural airport an economic engine for the county.

“Airports, in general, are economic engines,” Larry Way, airport manager, said. “This provides jobs to county residents and supports businesses such as restaurants, hotels and other local businesses like hardware stores and part shops, for example, when individuals fly in.”

As for how much the airport generates in funds for the county, Way said it is hard to put a dollar amount on it.

“We just don’t have a way to quantify the real dollars that having an airport means in tourism dollars,” Way said.

It is estimated that the Lunenburg Airport handles 15 to 30 flights monthly, according to Way.

Other airports that are getting funding for projects from the Virginia Aviation Board include the Blue Ridge Regional Airport, the Bridgewater Air Park, the Brookneal Campbell County Airport, the Chesapeake Regional Airport, the Dinwiddie County Airport, the Front Royal-Warren County Airport, the Hampton Roads Executive Airport, Ingalls Field, the Lake Country Regional Airport, the Leesburg Executive Airport, the New Kent County Airport, the New River Valley Airport, the Richmond Executive-Chesterfield County Airport, the Stafford Regional Airport, the Tappahannock-Essex County Airport, the Twin County Airport, the Virginia Tech-Montgomery Executive Airport, and the Wakefield Municipal Airport.