Hattiesburg-Laurel Airport Officials Look For New Carrier
ONES COUNTY, Miss. - The contract for the one commercial airline carrier at the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport expires in a few months.
Airport management says the airline most likely wont be returning.
"That hasn't worked well as we thought, said PIB Executive Director Tom Heanue. "There have been some issues."
Heanue believes Silver Airways will soon pull air service in the Pine Belt. The small airline has been the commercial carrier at the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport since Delta decided to leave in 2012.
"We use to do about 1,000 people a month flying out and about that much coming in," he said. "Our numbers are down to about 300 a month leaving."
Some of the problems, Heanue said comes from new FAA regulations, and a shortage of pilots.
"That's really put a hindrance on small carries and Silver was one of them," he said.
Right Silver provides commercial flight service to Atlanta.
"I believe its been poor management they've not been able to make the Southern hub work out of Atlanta," he said.
The contract between the airport and the air carrier expires at the end of September. PIB says no other airlines have submitted bids to service the Pine Belt, and Heanue doesn't believe Silver Airways will return.
"We are hoping that we can go out and find someone else, it's not easy, it's difficult," he said. "About 25 years ago they would want to knock on your door and come to your location. Now it is a money game, fuel is high, moving passengers, unions, so small airports is not really where they want to be unless there's an opportunity for profit."
PIB is asking for travel data from 2013 from customers to help them seek a new carrier. You can submit that information to your local chamber or to the airport at tom.heanue@flypib.com.
Story and video: http://www.whlt.com
WHLT 22 Connecting the Pine Belt
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment