AMC traffic uses Moron during airfield closure

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Christopher Mesnard
  • 496th Air Base Squadron Public Affairs
MORON AIR BASE, Spain --  The 496th Air Base Squadron experiences an increase in air traffic beginning May 24, 2013, at Moron Air Base, Spain, due to a temporary runway closure at Naval Station Rota, Spain.

Construction personnel at Rota began resurfacing the runway and working on the emergency aircraft arresting gear system as part of a month-long construction project, leaving Moron as the primary airfield for use by transient Air Mobility Command flights that would normally use Rota.

"Historically Moron has been postured for fighter aircraft rotating in and out of the Central Command area of responsibility," said Lt. Col. Dan Furleigh, 496th ABS commander. "Over the next month and a half we're going to see a significant increase in strategic airlift assets transiting Moron, resulting in a much higher operations tempo for us."

The runway at Rota is scheduled to be closed from May 27 through the beginning of July. Rota typically sees about 30 percent of all C-5 Galaxy missions flown on any given day in addition to C-17 Globemaster III airlift missions heading to various areas of responsibility, making the Naval Station in southern Spain area a key location in terms of air mobility.

"One of our primary concerns is the Patriot Express, rotator aircraft, and it's passengers," said Commander Tim McGarvey Naval Station Rota Operations Officer. "We still plan on processing the passengers through our terminal at Rota; we'll just provide transportation from Moron."

Moron's Air Terminal is typically postured with a small staff, not designed to handle the increase in passengers expected over the next month. For several months, McGarvey and his personnel at Rota coordinated with Furleigh and the Moron team to ensure the air base would have the people and equipment in place to pick up the missions while the runway at Rota is closed.

In addition to personnel to help process passengers on the Patriot Express, the AMC component at Rota, the 725th Air Mobility Squadron have relocated some of its personnel and equipment to Moron, providing critical maintenance support and command and control of strategic airlift missions.

Overall, the $4 million project is expected to take approximately 35 days to complete and once the runway at Rota is open again, the transient flights and supporting personnel will return to using the Naval Station's brand new, re-surfaced runway.