Adding passenger air service and cargo service at Greenwood-Leflore Airport would bring millions to the local economy, consultants told the airport's board Tuesday.
The speakers included James E. Sirhall, Stephen B. Marshall and Fred Davis. Sirhall is principal and founder of the Denver-based Airport Development Group (ADG) Inc., where Marshall is an airport planner. Davis is president of Tri-Star Marketing, which is based in California.
ADG has been assembling a strategic business plan to help the airport improve its operations, bring in more aviation business and expand the community's overall base of business.
The consultants offered some target opportunities for the airport to consider:
- Offering passenger service to a major hub airport such as Atlanta and/or air cargo service by UPS or DHL;
- Adding a corporate aviation center;
- Expanding the operation for the Memphis Group; and
- Expanding the offerings in general aviation and military aviation.
Sirhall envisions the airport offering at least 12 flights to Atlanta each week on 19-seat aircraft: two flights a day from Monday through Friday and one each on Saturday and Sunday. The Ameriflite or UPS cargo service would run five days a week. According to the strategic plan, passenger air service would bring in $1.15 million in new visitor revenue and would have a total revenue impact of $4.1 million.
The consultants estimated that the corporate aviation center and the Memphis Group expansion could bring in 20 more jobs each.
However, the challenge is to find an airline with the right size aircraft that can offer flights to Atlanta. Airlines suggested as possibilities include Mesa Airlines, RegionsAir, Big Sky Airlines, Great Lakes Airlines and Cape Air. Unfortunately, none of those offers flights out of Atlanta.
The consultants said Leflore County has a number of things going for it, such as semi-skilled, low-cost labor,
highway access, higher education and economic incentives.
The airport also has room to expand and is sufficiently far from residential areas that it doesn't pose a noise problem.
Weaknesses include the size of the market and its distance from metropolitan areas.
Businesses in the area also could benefit from the air service, Davis said.
"You have good businesses in this community, and they need travel - for customers coming in and themselves going out," he said.
Sirhall said this would benefit Mississippi Valley State University as well. The consultants recently met with the school's Executive Committee and discussed the possibility of MVSU offering training.
"When we brought up the term 'scheduled air service,' the room kind of lit up," he said. "They got very excited about that."
Still, the community will need more incentives to attract new business, and the consultants recommended applying for grants from the Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce.
Commercial air service also could bring in more money from the federal government, Sirhall said.
Under current legislation, the airport receives $150,000 a year from the Federal Aviation Administration. With commercial service and a sufficiently large number of passengers, it would receive $1 million a year. That money could help add a terminal, extend a runway or make other improvements, Sirhall said.
In fact, if the airport devised a $4 million project to add a terminal and it could find three other Mississippi airports in its category not using their $1 million allotments, it could borrow from them.
"It also puts you in a little higher priority level for discretionary funds," Sirhall said.
The availability of commercial air service also was a major factor in American Eurocopter's decision to place a manufacturing facility at Golden Triangle Regional Airport rather than Greenwood-Leflore.
