NATCHEZ, Miss. – Plans are underway here for an announcement and groundbreaking April 30 for a new business that Natchez-Adams County’s chief commercial development officer said is a “nontraditional” project related to “hospitality.”
More details are forthcoming, said Chandler Russ, executive director of Natchez Inc., the business recruitment agency for the city and Adams County.
Meeting Monday with the Adams County Board of Supervisors, Russ said the soon-to-be-revealed business is one supervisors are not familiar with or have tried to recruit.
In other business development discussions at Monday’s meeting, supervisors were told progress continues for luring a passenger airline to Adams County. While expectations were for one to have landed by now thanks to federal funds awarded in 2022, recruitment efforts are “still moving, and moving in the right direction,” said Natchez-Adams County Airport Director Richard Nelson.
He said a meeting is scheduled in May with SkyWest Airlines. The Utah-based air carrier has expressed interest in providing commercial passenger service from Natchez-Adams County to Houston. Nelson also noted discussions continue with Florida-based Southern Airways, where executives previously predicted it could begin to serve Natchez-Adams County in late 2022.
The Natchez-Adams County Airport has been without regular passenger airline service for three decades. It had commercial planes landing here between the early 1950s and late 1980s and again briefly in the mid-1990s, according to the airport’s historical records.
A $750,000 grant was given to Natchez-Adams County in 2022 from the Federal Aviation Administration to be combined with $500,000 in city-county money. The “risk-mitigation” subsidy is to help cover start-up costs for initiating service and ensure an airline makes money bringing planes to the Natchez-Adams County area.
The pursuit of an airliner comes as various improvements are being made to enhance the airport’s capacity to accommodate airplanes. The U.S. Congress last month allocated about $900,000 for a new airport fire truck, and the Mississippi Transportation Commission last week awarded about $800,000 to build a 10-unit hangar. Work is being finished to install taxiway lights. Also, in recent years, about $3.8 million in federal funds have been spent for resurfacing runways.
Comments