Johnston Regional Airport is growing even faster than it expected
Johnston Regional Airport is taking steps to add a control tower to manage a growing number of flights.
SMITHFIELD — Johnston Regional Airport is exceeding its own expectations.
“By 2040, we were expected to have 135 aircraft based at Johnston Regional,” Ken Starling, chairman of the airport board, told County Commissioners on April 6. “We currently have over 170.
“It’s just phenomenal the growth that we have.”
As the number of aircraft has grown, so have fuel sales and rental income have hangar and tie-down leases. Those income streams have bolstered the airport’s bottom line, Starling said.
“The airport is financially sound enough that we’re able to start support ourselves,” he told Commissioners. “There’s no tax money that goes for any of our employees, our light bill, our insurance.”
The airport calls on taxpayers only when it needs matching dollars for state and federal dollars.
Starling noted that directly and indirectly, the airport, known as JNX for short, supported more than 1,400 jobs in 2025. “That meant a personal income of over $111 million,” he said. “That created state and local taxes of almost $21 million. “
Starling put the airport’s total economic output at $317 million annually.
Dave Harris is the airport’s director. “Our leasing activity is really our strength,” he told Commissioners. “We’ve been maintaining a nearly 100% occupancy rate.”
JNX is home to 151 leasable spaces, including corporate hangars, T-hangars and tie-downs. The 170 aircraft based there are valued at more than $80 million.
“Our strategic imperative for the airport is to maintain these types of numbers so that we can ensure that our operational budget maintains that self-sufficiency,” Harris said.
JNX recently opened a new hangar with office space, and construction is about to start on a new home for N.C. State Highway Patrol aircraft.
With the building pad nearly finished, “they should be going vertical in the next week or two,” Harris said. “The steel’s been delivered. The footing’s been poured. And we’re hoping to have completion there no later than fall of next year.”
Next up for JNX is a control tower that should come online no later than 2030.
“We’re the busiest general aviation airport in the state of North Carolina, and we operate with no control tower,” Starling said.
Harris, a former Navy pilot and Top Gun instructor, said that was unsafe. “I’m more nervous flying at my own home airport than I was flying around the aircraft carrier at night,” he said. “That’s how busy we are. This is something that has to get done in order to maintain the safety of flying around Johnston Regional.”
A control tower could cost as much as $20 million and require a 10% match from the County, although the airport is considering a cheaper alternative. The good news is that the Federal Aviation Administration would pay for staffing the tower.
“I’ll be a bulldog on this one until it gets done,” Harris said. “It is our No. 1 strategic imperative.”
Page last updated on: April 13, 2026