Hainsey gives airport update at Rotary
The Starkville Rotary Club got an update on the Golden Triangle Regional Airport when the facility’s executive director Mike Hainsey spoke at the club’s meeting Monday.
Hainsey addressed several issues facing the airport and improvements it was in the process of making. Many of Hainsey’s topics also tied into the state of the commercial aviation industry as a whole.
He discussed the airport’s long-term plan for westbound service to complement the airport’s daily service to Atlanta through Delta Airlines.
“It’s not the incentives,” Hainsey said. “They know that we can fill the airplanes, but it’s back to the pilot shortage. (American Airlines) told me they have no new markets out of Dallas this next year. I think that’s going to change, but the point is they don’t know if they can man their existing markets, and they can’t grow until they are sure what’s going to happen with the pilot shortage. It’s getting that bad.”
Hainsey said there was approximately $2 million in incentives to get a route from GTR to Dallas, and the airport was working toward Dallas as its western destination because of facilities of companies such as PACCAR and Airbus Helicopters, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“The industries around here that would go west, they need Dallas,” Hainsey said.
Hainsey explained the pilot shortage, with nearly twice the number of pilots set up to retire in the near future, while fewer enter the industry. This could lead to a 15,000-pilot shortage by 2026.
“It’s kind of the perfect storm,” Hainsey said. “The price of gas went up. It used to cost $4,000 to get a private license for the hours of instruction. It now costs $10,000 to $12,000. For an airline pilot, to allow him to get his commercial 50 Cents license and start building hours for the airlines is over $100,000. That’s why the pipeline is short.”
Hainsey also discussed some recent renovations to the airport, including new surfaces on both the commercial and general aviation ramps and a planned expansion to the terminal. The airport also updated all its lights throughout the facility. Taxiway refurbishments will also be complete this week.
“It’s important to keep infrastructure safe and ahead of things, so it doesn’t fall apart,” Hainsey said.