Every day Contour Airlines flights take off from the Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon bound for Washington D.C.
“It’s a leisure destination, and there’s quite a bit of business travelers that go back and forth to D.C.,” Airport Manager Erik D'Leon said.
He says with the flights regularly packed, they expect to hit 10,000 passengers this year. He says that’s the magic number when comes to federal funding. If they get more than that, they'll qualify for $1 million for improvements.
“Look at extending the runway, rehabbing the existing pavement, improving the lighting, a package deal to make sure it’s ready to go,” D’Leon said.
He says those may not seem like a big deal for passengers, but it opens the door for future opportunities.
“Making those improvements then allows us to go and attract the airlines, air services,” D’Leon said. “Whether it’s a cafe in the terminal or a rental car business, all those others businesses attract to airports.”
D'Leon says they've already done research and know where they'd like to offer service to in the future.
“South Florida, New York -- that’s an opportunity for us, whether it’s with Contour, I hope it's Contour, but we're open for anybody that wants to come in and look at those routes,” D’Leon said.
He says those are just ideas right now, and it all depends on the continued success for the flights to D.C.