GTRA Executive Director speaks to Starkville community leaders
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s more than just the starting point for a vacation getaway; Golden Triangle Regional Airport is also a major factor in the area’s economic development.
That was one of the messages from the airport’s Executive Director Matt Dowell.
Dowell spoke to business and community leaders in Starkville about the airport’s impact, as well as its ongoing expansions.
Those include facility improvements, like a terminal renovation and new storage and maintenance facilities, and expanding horizons, with a new westbound route to Dallas.
Dowell said not all of the airport’s impact is immediately visible, but it is significant.
“Because the airport exists, there are a lot of other jobs that are linked to that. So, we have people coming in, using our hotels in the area, jobs that support the airline service, like TSA, rental cars. The airport employees are there, so there are a lot of linking jobs that are part of that are in existence because the airport exists. And so, the economic impact is over 272 million dollars. That’s because of the trickle-down effect of the airport being there, with passengers using the area. So, they haven’t done a study in a while, so we’re hoping that now we have additional airline service, that the airport’s grown, that that will show even more economic impact, because the airport exists,” said Dowell.
Dowell said beginning in July, American Airlines plans to begin using a larger plane to accommodate more passengers for the daily flights to DFW.
