NATCHEZ, Miss. – Natchez-Adams County is receiving a $750,000 federal grant that’s considered essential to bringing regular air-passenger service to the community after decades without a commercial airline.
Southern Airways executive Mark Cestari said the government subsidy is needed to guarantee the airline makes money as it initiates service to the Natchez-Adams County Airport as soon as October.
Confirmation came Friday that the grant city-county officials applied for has been awarded, said airport director Richard Nelson. The money will be combined with $500,000 in city-county funds.
The “risk-mitigation” funds are key to getting Southern Airways Express to include the airport on its regular routes, said Cestari, the airline’s chief commercial officer.
Cestari presented plans last week to city-county officials calling for two round-trip daily flights coming in and out of the Natchez-Adams County Airport to New Orleans and Memphis.
Southern Airways’ commuter planes, he said, are mostly propeller-driven nine-seat Cessna Grand Caravans.
Pointing to the potential for Southern Airways to eventually make a profit serving Natchez-Adams County, Cestari said the community would be “a real jewel in our Gulf footprint…. It fits very well in our brand personality.”
He noted a prime source of passengers could be fliers coming to Natchez to make movies, take riverboat trips and tour the area. American Cruise Lines plans to make Natchez the home port for its new American Symphony riverboat.
The Natchez-Adams County Airport has been without regular commercial airline service for three decades. It had airliners between the early 1950s and late 1980s and again briefly in the mid-1990s, according to the airport’s historical records.
The Palm Beach-Fla.-Southern Airways Express was founded in 2013 and serves nearly 50 cities from Massachusetts to Hawaii, including nearby small cities such as Destin, Fl., El Dorado, Ark. and Jackson, Tenn.
Southern has partnered with American, Alaska and United airlines for its passengers to seamlessly connect with flights at larger airports.
While airlines are coping with various economic challenges causing some contraction, Cestari said he looks forward to making Natchez-Adams County “our next winner.”
The fact Southern Airways’ planes already fly over Natchez “weighs in your favor,” Cestari told Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, city aldermen, Adams County supervisors and others who gathered Wednesday before knowing the $750,000 Federal Aviation Administration grant had officially been awarded Friday.
City-county officials applied for the Small Community Air Service Development Program grant earlier this year.
Cestari’s airline is a reincarnation of the now-defunct Southern Airways that was founded in the 1940s and served the Natchez-Adams County Airport until the 1970s.
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