Pilot and other staffing shortages with American Airlines continue to prevent the expansion of Golden Triangle Regional Airport’s addition of westbound flights to Dallas.
GTRA Executive Director Matt Dowell told The Columbus Exchange Club on Thursday at Lion Hills Center the airline company is interested in expanding flights to the airport, but it needs to push the brakes until it hires more pilots and staff to accommodate other airports.
“We’re telling them the good news about our area growing … but they just don’t have the capacity yet,” Dowell said. “Timing has got to be right for them. Obviously, we’re putting the pieces together to make sure when they do come, they’re going to be successful long term.”
Currently, the only commercial airline available at GTRA is Delta, which flies to Atlanta.
Dowell explained that American, Delta and other major airlines, are still facing an industry-wide average 20-percent shortage of pilots and planes since the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020.
The industry has had to face other challenges, though. Since 2013, the required flight training time went from 500 to roughly 1,500 hours to receive a commercial pilot’s license. In 2020, record low demands for flights caused industry players like Delta and American to cut back on the number of planes and pilots in their respective fleets.
Even GTRA isn’t unaffected by this shortage. To prioritize flights, Delta recently committed two 76-seater jets to GTRA, which will reduce the three flights-a-day schedule to just two, though Dowell said it is looking to add back a third flight in the future.
“In order to take someone off the street, train them as a pilot like I went through, it takes a lot longer than it used to actually be able to get in the right seat of an airplane for Delta Airlines,” he said. “The whole process used to be about two years. Now it’s at least four to build up the flight time and the education that’s needed.”
American has also pulled out of regional airports in Columbus, Georgia, Del Rio, Texas, and Long Beach, California, due to the shortage.
“American Airlines pulled out of there so we don’t see them as an overall growth for this year,” he said. “They have a list of ‘Here is where we want to be, what airports we’d like to serve one day,’ and we’re on that list. However, they have to be growing in order to go to new markets.”
Though all GTRA flights go first to Atlanta, Dowell said data shows Washington, D.C. and Orlando among the top three final destinations for its passengers. Because of that, GTRA is looking to bring in smaller commercial outfits that service direct flights to those areas.
The airport has committed $60 million since 2003 to update its facilities, Dowell said, most recently opening bids for an $11.3 million terminal expansion project that will add, among other things, a jet bridge to the second floor to accommodate passengers loading into larger planes. That project is slated to begin by fall.
It has also leased swaths of land for companies to locate near the airport, which in turn grows the airport and its prospects — companies such as Airbus and Aurora Flight Sciences.
“That means there’s more economic development in the area, more jobs, and that adds to our passenger base,” he said.
The airport is also looking further ahead and expects within the next few years, it will have plans for more terminal expansions and jet bridges as well as build a new parallel runway to accommodate more flights, which makes the airport more attractive.
To have room for a new parallel runway, Dowell said GTRA is swapping 144 acres, originally intended for a cross runway, with Aluminum Dynamics Incorporated for a strip of roughly 236 acres immediately to the west of the airport.
“We’re excited to be able to have additional land for that capability,” he said. “In the short term, it’ll just be additional space between us and the aluminum plant.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
