Q. Are you going to build on the information that was already collected for the Environmental Impact Statement?

A. Yes, all the data and information gathered for the Environmental Impact Statement will be reviewed and evaluated and supplemented to complete the airport master plan update. The analysis for the master plan update actually looks 20 years into the future while the analysis for an environmental document just looks at 5-10 years.

Q. What is the difference between capital funding and operational funding?

A. The difference pertains the sources of the funding and the rules guiding their expenditure. In Alaska, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funds a large share of capital costs. Unalaska Airport is owned and operated by the State of Alaska Department of Transportation. Operational funds come from a combination of airport lease, landing and other fees and state general fund allocations. Unalaska Airport competes with needs statewide for both capital funding and operation and maintenance funds.

Q. How long will it take before we actually see something begin to be changed at the Unalaska Airport?

A. The project team has been asked to complete this master plan update in eight months, which began in November 2006. Once complete, the master plan update will identify near term projects and an environmental process will begin. The environmental document requiring the most analysis, evaluation and public/agency scrutiny is the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that can take between 2-5 years to complete. Following completion of the environmental document, detailed design can take another year or two. If the construction dollars were available to begin the project immediately after completion of design, the project construction would begin. The earliest we might see construction in Unalaska is 2010.