Yeager Airport's personnel committee voted to recommend Terry Sayre as the airport's new interim executive director during a meeting Monday.
The recommendation still needs to be approved by the airport's full board on Wednesday before Sayre's new position is final. Sayre is currently the assistant airport director.
"I'm excited to get started and move the airport forward," he said after the committee meeting.
Sayre said he sees the airport making personnel cuts in the near future to save money, but airport management doesn't yet have specific cuts in mind.
On Saturday, Yeager Airport announced that its director of 16 years, Rick Atkinson, was retiring effective immediately, citing the "challenging" months and duties since the March landslide at the end of the airport's runway.
"We are at a critical juncture with the slope failure and the litigation that's going on," Airport Board Chairman Ed Hill said. "This is an important time for us and we cant afford to skip a beat."
Hill said the personnel committee will address the position of a new executive director in the coming weeks and months.
"The immediate concern is to get someone in place that is overseeing the day to day operations," he said.
Hill said Sayre's experience at the airport over the last eight years made him an ideal candidate for the job.
"He knows the airport in and out," Hill said.
The committee also recommended Sayre receive a sizable pay increase - going from his current $104,500 to $130,000.
Atkinson was making $150,000 annually at the time of his retirement.
Contact writer Matt Murphy at 304-348-4817 or matt.murphy@dailymailwv.com. Follow him on Twitter @DMLocalGov.