It was quiet on a recent day in the 6-year-old Redmond Airport terminal. Passengers read while waiting patiently for their flights.

But change was going on all around them.

Outside, workers excavated dirt to get ready for the March 7 scheduled start of construction on an $18.3 million project to rebuild part of the 5-23 runway.

Upstairs, finishing touches were being put on the airport’s remodeled bar and restaurant.

Behind the scenes, officials are working to bring new flights to Redmond and to lure new business to the area around the airport. Even the airport’s director is new.

Runway closure

The airport will close May 2-23 while work is completed on the intersection of the airport’s two runways. Airport Director Zachary Bass said the airport was able to get the closure down from the 45 days initially estimated by an engineer.

“Everything is on schedule and on budget,” he said. “There are a lot of contingencies in place to make sure we meet that deadline. I have all faith and confidence that we will.”

The existing runway is in good shape but is required to be replaced because it is 22 years old, which is longer than the 20 years the Federal Aviation Administration allows, Bass said.

“Our pavement is safe, but it is something that is required to happen,” he said.

The closure will give the airport time for maintenance and deep cleaning inside the terminal, Bass said.

Improved restaurant

Meanwhile, the Avalon Aeropub reopened this month with more space and more selection. It features eight rotating beers on tap, as well as four wines. Owner Dan Brawn said the wines will have a dual-zone cooling system, since wine connoisseurs like reds and whites at different temperatures.

“This way they get a perfect glass every time,” he said.

And don’t come to the bar expecting a Budweiser on tap.

“We only put local brews on tap,” Brawn said. “We try to represent the leading Central Oregon beers.”

It also serves local spirits from Bendistillery.

The restaurant features four 65-inch televisions, as well as screens providing flight information.

More flights and businesses?

The Redmond City Council last year accepted a $500,000 federal grant to help the airport recruit an airline to offer daily flights to Phoenix, the country’s sixth-largest metropolitan area.

The city officially announced Feb. 19 that American Airlines would begin service June 2 to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The flights will depart daily from Redmond at 12:01 p.m., landing at 2:20 p.m., and return from Phoenix at 8:15 p.m., arriving at 10:20 p.m.

Beyond that, the airport could focus on getting more flights to the cities it already serves. While the airport is looking at cities like Las Vegas and San Jose, Bass acknowledged Redmond is running out of major hubs to serve west of Kansas.

“It kind of limits our options on growing quite a bit larger,” he said.

Bass, who was promoted to his current position in January after coming to the airport one year earlier, includes among his priorities investing in flights to destinations already served out of Redmond. He also wants to improve the airport’s general aviation area and emphasize the airport’s status as a regional economic driver.

The city of Redmond pays 21 employees at the airport, which has 30 flights in and out a day. Bass said 500 jobs are directly associated with the facility.

The airport takes up a total of 2,500 acres, with 500 of that outside the security fence. Bass said much of that space is available for economic development. He would like to add more aviation-related businesses to join RDD Enterprises, which provides components for experimental aircraft builders.

The airport is also interested in new hotels, Bass said.

“Our goal is to reach out to companies that need a commercial airport and, hopefully, set up manufacturing or commercial enterprises,” he said.

New advertising

The airport is seeking other ways to add revenue. It is in the process of replacing the back-lit billboards around the terminal with digital signs that will allow for video advertisements. It has a few monitors up now showing Central Oregon attractions to whet the appetite of potential advertisers.

If video isn’t a company’s thing, the airport is open to custom advertising, Bass said. It plans to open an aircraft-themed indoor play area for kids within the next six months. It will be sponsored by the pediatrics department at Bend Memorial Clinic.

“We want to keep the charm of our airport, so we don’t want to go overboard,” he said. “But we also want to generate more revenue, which helps offset the costs for our airlines.”

That could help the airport compete for more destinations and, potentially, keep fares down, Bass said.

The airport, which has around 500,000 people fly in and out of it per year, would like to double the $100,000 it now brings in annually in advertising revenue within two years, Bass said.

“We’re one of the most-traveled spots by customers in the region,” he said.

Bass spent nine years in the Air Force, where he served as a business operations manager. He also was a supervisor for Hexcel Advanced Composites, a company involved with making materials for aircraft structures.

He moved from Seattle and spent a year as business manager at Redmond Airport before being promoted. He helped run the facility along with the operations manager, Winton Platt, and security manager Nicole Jurgensen after Jeff Tripp, the former director, resigned last summer. Bass said the managers still play a key role at the airport, which allows him to focus on his duties.

“They both are very good at their jobs,” he said.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com