Despite being the third busiest in the state, Bend Municipal Airport is one of few high-activity airports in the region with no air traffic control facility or staff.
Big changes are headed to Bend Municipal Airport, including an 8-story air traffic control tower that — in addition to improving safety and efficiency — will be the tallest building in Central Oregon.
A $10 million tower funded by the federal government is expected to bring order to an airport where pilots currently coordinate takeoff and landings on their own — multiple planes per minute.
Following some delays, the project is expected to be completed in January 2026, The Bend Bulletin reports. It will be the first federally funded airport tower project to open in the past five years that’s not owned and operated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
With a single 5,270-foot runway and dual taxiways, KBDN is the third busiest airport in the state in takeoffs and landings. It sees heavy use by corporate and medical planes and private pilots as well as training and flight schools including helicopters. It’s also home to around 300 planes. And since 2012, training activity at the airport has doubled.
The Bend airport though is twice as busy as nearby Redmond Municipal Airport, though Redmond, which serves most western airline hubs, sees the bulk of commercial flights to Central Oregon.
Bend Municipal Airport is one of the few high-activity airports in the Pacific Northwest with no tower and no official to direct takeoffs and landings.. Portland International Airport, Hillsboro Airport, Troutdale Airport and Redmond Municipal Airport all have towers. Officials have observed numerous aircraft operating in the traffic pattern and within close proximity to KBDN, according to a brochure on the project.
“The lack of an ATCT serving the airport fosters an extremely difficult operating environment for arriving and departing aircraft,” air traffic specialist Kevin Miller is quoted as saying. “The construction of an ATCT would organize the flow of traffic and absolutely facilitate safer, more efficient aircraft operations at KBDN.”
Pilots use instruments or sight when approaching the airport, and they may be anywhere between 60 and 160 miles per hour. As a result of high activity at the airport, numerous close calls have been recorded that would not have occurred at a towered airport, according to the airport’s 2019 master plan. Disorganization among pilots using the airport can also lead to thousands of dollars lost in gas of idling aircraft or airplanes that have to circle to re-approach.
The $10 million project is about one-third complete, with most of the tower’s steel frame in place, the Bulletin reports. The tower, which will be the tallest building in the region, will feature a rotating beacon, antennae and lightning rods. It features modern design and an outdoor deck where controllers can sit on breaks. The tower’s octagonal cab had yet to be installed. The project is also adding a service road, parking area, utility connections and a perimeter fence.
The upgrades won’t result in changes to the nature of the airport; it will continue to serve general aviation users.
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