Imagine you’re flying into Monterey Regional Airport and the runway is fogged in, and instead of your plane being diverted to Fresno, Bakersfield or San Jose, it could instead land in Salinas.
And imagine that you land at San Jose or San Francisco and need to get to Monterey County, and instead of driving on a road, you can travel in an electric, unmanned vertical takeoff and landing aircraft – called eVTOL, in industry lingo.
That’s the vision in mind for the Salinas Municipal Airport, which is going through an update to its master plan, last revised in 2004.
Airport Manager Brett Godown presented the Salinas City Council with the vision for the master plan update on March 8, explaining how he and his staff are seeking to modernize the airport and make it more of an asset going forward. The only councilmember expressing reservations was Anthony Rocha, who cited a recent, peer-reviewed study at two airports in Santa Clara County that found elevated amounts of lead in the air. (Both airports have since shifted to strictly unleaded fuel for aircraft.)
“I wasn’t hearing much about these environmental justice concerns happening at other airports,” Rocha says.
Godown welcomes that feedback – “We need those checks and balances for someone to hold us accountable,” he says.
One potential project is a runway expansion; currently, the Salinas Airport’s two runways are not long enough to accommodate Monterey’s fleet, Godown says. The longest runway in Salinas is 6,000 feet, and he estimates it would need to be lengthened to 7,000 feet. Further study is required to hone in on the exact minimum length.
Mayor Kimbley Craig expressed excitement about that possibility: “I would love to fly out of Salinas, that would be amazing.”
The vision, Godown says, is not to compete with the Monterey Regional for commercial traffic, but to be a viable backup option if fog delays landings and takeoffs in MRY.
“We want to play our part in the region, but that requires us to do significant analysis of whether we can accept the fleet that comes into Monterey,” Godown says, both from a financial and environmental standpoint.
Another prospective development is a research and development facility at the airport for eVOTL aircraft. Already, eVOTL testing is happening at the airport now by a Silicon Valley startup, Archer. That was precipitated, Godown says, after he and some fellow staff members traveled to Silicon Valley about three years ago and met with executives from Boeing and Airbus, telling them about the opportunities Salinas offers. Some of those executives from Airbus went on to form Archer – an eVTOL startup – and later came knocking.
Godown says Salinas is the “perfect place” for such testing for a host of reasons: Its proximity to the Bay Area and Santa Cruz, and the fact that south of the airport is miles of unpopulated agricultural fields. And there’s also mountains, and sea nearby. “You get all the geographic and atmospheric [elements] to prove the aircraft,” he says.
Godown says public meetings will be held throughout the planning process. While the final draft plan likely won’t be done until fall of 2023, “the idea is to incrementally release portions when they’re finished.”