NATCHEZ, Miss. – City and county leaders are expressing confidence they can get a passenger airline to put the Natchez-Adams County Airport on its regular route possibly later this year.
“There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic,” said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson.
Natchez-Adams County has been without a commercial air carrier since the mid-1990s.
County supervisors and city aldermen on Tuesday agreed to combine $500,000 as a set-aside match for federal funds annually given to communities in need of passenger airline service.
Three or four airlines – including Southern Airways Express – have expressed strong interest in making the Adams County-owned airport one of their regular stops, said Gibson and airport Director Richard Nelson. The airlines have submitted letters of support for Natchez-Adams County’s pursuit of the federal air-service grant.
In awarding federal grants through the Small Community Air Service Development Program, the U.S. Department of Transportation gives high priority to communities needing help to restore scheduled passenger air service that has been terminated, according to guidelines posted by DOT.
With the federal air-service grants limited to a maximum of 40 a year throughout the country, competition is keen among the many cities and counties seeking the money. Natchez-Adams County leaders have high hopes they’ll be among the recipients.
Gibson noted the $500,000 the city and county have jointly set aside as earnest money could make them stand out among the other applicants. He also pointed to runway and lighting upgrades underway at the Natchez-Adams County Airport.
If all goes well, commercial flights could begin this summer in Adams County, Nelson said.
The local and federal funds are to be used as revenue guarantees an airline will make a profit.
The Adams County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to put up $300,000. The Natchez Board of Aldermen earmarked $200,000.
The $500,000 is from federal American Rescue Plan funds the city and county have received to help recover from the impact COVID has had on the economy. The money would be held in reserve to subsidize an airline only if it fails to have enough passengers to make a profit serving the Natchez-Adams County Airport.
A recent airport-commissioned study shows more than 800 people per week in the Natchez area are driving to fly out of airports in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Jackson, and other cities – a positive indication the Natchez-Adams County Airport would have enough passengers for an airline to profit. Gibson has also said American Cruise Lines has indicated a special interest in giving riverboat passengers the option to fly commercially in and out of Natchez.
City and county officials in the past year have been redoubling long-going efforts to recruit an airline. The Natchez-Adams County Airport has been without regular commercial passenger airline service for three decades. It had airline service between the early 1950s and late 1980s and again briefly in the mid-1990s, according to the airport’s historical records.
A public meeting will be held Tuesday 10 a.m. at the Natchez City Council Chambers to discuss the efforts underway to get a commercial air carrier here. The air-service development grant application has a March 15 deadline for submission.
Past federal air-service development grants for other communities have ranged from $20,000 to about $1.6 million, according to the Department of Transportation. In 2021, DOT awarded 22 such grants.
Among the recipients was St. Augustine, the historic Florida city similar in size to Natchez with about 14,000 people. It received $700,000 in federal funds to use as a revenue guarantee for American Airlines to reintroduce scheduled passenger service to the community. Baton Rouge received $1 million as a revenue guarantee for American Airlines to provide new service to Washington, D.C., from the Louisiana city that DOT described as “somewhat isolated.”
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