GTR Airport discusses holiday travel
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Finals are wrapping up for students, and families are getting ready for holiday travel.
The holidays are one of the busiest travel times of the year.
Matt Dowell is the executive director of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport.
“We’re excited to see passengers coming and going for their holiday travel, both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Business travel is a little interesting. So, you know things kind of slow down because people are taking vacation and visiting family, getting some leisure travel in. So (business travel) slows while the leisure travel kind of picks up,” said Dowell.
Dowell said GTR gets around 4,000 travelers per month, but that number can increase to 5,000 in the airport’s busiest seasons.
During the holidays, Dowell said the flights balance out for them at GTR, but the passengers’ connecting flights contribute to the national increase in travel numbers.
“So, it all kind of works out to be an average time, but at the busier airports and bigger airports in the country, it’s obviously prime time for travel and gets really busy at the hubs where we’re connected to,” said Dowell.
Travelers can fly East and West through GTR.
The airport added American Airlines this past Spring, giving travelers an option to fly to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW).
“So now, they have more options than ever before. You have Delta and American. And you can fly east, and you can fly west to the two largest hubs
in the United States, which is exciting,” said Dowell.
Delta takes them to Atlanta.
Dowell said summertime is the busiest travel season for GTR, when leisure and business travel overlap.
They’re also expanding the airport.
“We’re excited for everyone this next year to see our new and expanded terminal, our jet bridge, as well as our escalators and elevators that we’re installing for easy travel through the terminal,” said Dowell.
The Federal Aviation Administration said this year’s Thanksgiving holiday travel period was the busiest in 15 years.
Dowell said the expansion should be complete by early 2026.
Flights start at 6 am at GTR.
