AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. -- Fairchild Air Force Base is just weeks away from bringing back all its aircraft.
Fairchild is ahead of schedule on a major construction project on a new runway. The concrete is poured and now crews are grooving it and putting asphalt on the shoulders. They're also working on the airfield lighting.
Next, Fairchild will install the navigation aids. Once all that work is done the aircraft will begin coming back from Moses Lake and Spokane International Airport, where they've been since January.
Fairchild says it wants to get all of the work done before winter weather arrives.
Fairchild says this work was necessary, because the old runway was about 50 years old. Officials say when planes landed on it pieces of concrete would pop out of the ground. The price tag on the new 3-mile long runway is $43 million.
