UNC-Chapel Hill is looking to build its own airport (scroll to bottom of link), another effective use of limited state funding :-p

UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said a meeting with local residents just before Christmas helped persuade him to call off the search for an airport site in Orange County.

Thorp and Roger Perry, chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees, said Friday if Orange County is to have a new airport, the university will have to work more closely with community leaders, who were caught by surprise when the General Assembly authorized an airport authority for the county this past summer.

“We do need an airport,” said Perry. “What we decided is that it should be a more collaborative process.”

UNC has said doctors need an airport closer than Raleigh-Durham International Airport to fly to clinics and training sessions around the state.