Construction is progressing well for accommodating commercial passenger airline service for the first time in 30 years at the Natchez-Adams County Airport, but it still needs various long-neglected repairs that must be tended to.
“There is maintenance that was not properly done, and it’s catching up with us,” said Adams County Administrator Mitzi Conn.
Work began in February to convert an airplane hangar into a terminal for passengers on the United Express jets scheduled to start flying here July 1.
Refashioning the hangar is estimated to cost up to $6.8 million – a project that would normally take 12 months but has been fast-tracked to be ready for passengers in four months, Conn said.
“There is so much that’s going on with that project,” Conn said of the intensity of the work being done at the county-owned airport.
“People are buying tickets, so we can’t miss that July 1 date,” she said.
The Natchez-Adams County Airport has been without regular commercial airline service for three decades.
The airport has been the fortunate recipient of multimillion-dollar federal and state grants in recent years to help attract an airline, but Conn noted basic maintenance has been neglected. Needs include reroofing the airport’s 67-year-old centerpiece building and repairing a fire truck.
Meeting Monday with the Adams County Board of Supervisors, Conn said it’s uncertain how the repairs will be funded. She expressed hopes revenues the airport generates through fuel and other airport-user fees will fund the maintenance needed.
About $3 million has been committed so far for making the airplane hangar a passenger terminal, Conn said. The work is being partly funded by $1.5 million the Mississippi Department of Transportation awarded in Febuary.
The soon-to-be passenger terminal is located on the left side of the airport’s main building facing Hardy-Anders Field’s runways. That 1959-built terminal has been deemed unsuitable for accommodating the passengers, airline agents and security personnel associated with United Express and its 50-passenger jets coming here.
Natchez-Adams County officials announced last October that SkyWest — United Airlines’ regional affiliate — will start serving the airport in July with one flight a day to Houston’s George Bush Airport, a major United hub.
With SkyWest’s United Express-branded jets flying in and out of the Natchez-Adams County Airport, area residents and visitors can avoid driving 90 minutes or more to the nearest airports in Baton Rouge, Jackson or New Orleans to catch flights. The Natchez-Adams County Airport is 10 miles from Natchez.
The Natchez-Adams County Airport previously had commercial passenger planes landing here between the early 1950s and late 1980s and again briefly in the mid-1990s, according to the airport’s historical records.
As Adams County seeks more funds for airport improvements, sources could potentially be the Mississippi Development Authority and the Federal Aviation Agency with Adams County putting up as much as $700,000 in matching money, according to Conn.
If you would like to see a virtual tour of the new airport terminal as planned and presented last month to the Adams County Board of Supervisors (go to the 9-minute time mark): Watch the video here
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