The first week of air service for ExpressJet flights in Meridian has seen a drastic increase in the number of passengers flying out of the the Key Field Airport, Meridian Airport Authority President Tom Williams said.
"At the end of the day we have put just over 400 people on the airplane this week," Williams said in a phone interview Thursday. "By comparison, we had 550 passengers in October.
"We are very encouraged. All of the flights have operated. They've been on time with the exception of a minor mechanical problem that delayed a flight one hour last week. This early into it, in between Hattiesburg and Meridian, we're filling up two-thirds of the airplane."
ExpressJet is a regional airline that operates regional flights for American Airlines under the American Eagle brand. It has a two-year contract with MRA and replaced the air service previously provided by Silver Airways, which had daily flights to Atlanta.
ExpressJet offers daily flights to and from Dallas.
About a year ago, Williams and Meridian Mayor Percy Bland attended a conference in Albany, N.Y. to seek out an airline to replace Silver Airways.
"It was the realization that Silver was not working out," that prompted the pair to attend the conference, Williams said. "They had not said they wanted to leave yet. After that, we hired a Sixel consultant who developed the plan to make it come together and make it work.
"We made the decision to hire (Sixel) at that conference. We were impressed by their ability to focus on small communities like us."
On April 12, Silver Airways gave the U.S. Department of Transportation a required 90-day notice of intent to discontinue service to between Atlanta and Meridian and four other communities, including Greenville, Hattiesburg-Laurel, Tupelo and Muscle Shoals, Ala.
- Source: http://www.meridianstar.com
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