[1] For the 12-month period ending July 31, 2007, the airport had 10,800 aircraft operations, an average of 29 per day: 94% general aviation, 5% air taxi and 1% military.

They noted that upgrades to the airport approved by the FAA had kept pace with current technology, and it was staffed with meticulous attention to detail and careful people, although there have been some complaints about runway maintenance.

The position of general aviation advocates and lobbyists was that there is something very special about airplanes, and to lose them in Chapel Hill for the sake of more buildings, traffic, and population density must be carefully considered.

Critics of the airport noticed that the university's first plans for the Carolina North project included keeping the airport in close proximity to occupied buildings and reminded the university that liability in the event of another crash could be substantial, given the existence of guidelines recommending against building so close to a working runway.

The plans for Carolina North were revised, and the UNC Board of Trustees commissioned a study on the basis of which they ordered the airport closed.

Most recently, opposition efforts focused on the university's planned move of six Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) planes to new facilities at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, to make way for construction of the first phase of the new Carolina North campus project, planned to include teaching, research, and cooperative public-private projects affiliated with the university.