By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – Military and other officials cut three ribbons to dedicate the two thousand-foot extension to Birmingham airport's east-west runway.
Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby attended Monday's ceremony and said it marked an important day in a campaign to expand and modernize the airport.
The refueling tankers made few departures at full capacity before the five-year, 51 (m) million dollar project to extend the runway to 12 thousand feet was completed.
Colonel Paul Brown, commander of the 117th Air Refueling Wing, said the project gives the military unit in Birmingham a capability it didn't have before.
The expansion project also helps to remove the threat of the unit losing its Birmingham hub after the 2005 base realignment and closure commission's proposal to close it.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)