LINCOLN - The main runway at the Lincoln Airport is almost 13,000 feet long, making it one of the longest runways at any commercial airport in the U.S.

The nearly 2.5-mile-long strip has allowed jumbo jets to land, served as an emergency landing site for the space shuttle, and allowed Offutt Air Force Base to station planes during projects.

But, as part of a 10-year master planning process, airport officials have determined that the runway, which has been rehabbed several times but never reconstructed, needs to be completely rebuilt. This potentially presents a problem.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which pays for 90% of most airport-related capital projects, will only pay to reconstruct a runway long enough and wide enough to accommodate so-called "critical" aircraft — defined as those that have a minimum of 500 operations annually. And it only includes civilian flights in those calculations.

"The best way to look at it is the FAA is a civilian agency, and so when they look at it, they want to see what is the civilian usage of your airport," said Chad Lay, the airport's director of planning and development.

Lay went on to say that given the parameters, his best estimation is that the FAA would only be willing to pay for a runway that's somewhere between 60% and 80% of its current length.

That would be plenty long enough for the United planes that fly out of the airport daily, but it's unclear whether it would suffice for some other flights.

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