October 18, 2006

Airport study due out soon, MCEDA says

By ANDREW UJIFUSA
Assistant Managing Editor

Western and northeastern Madison County have been identified as the two areas best suited for a new county airport, with proximity to Interstate 55 a key factor, a recent study that examined driving times between various airports in a six-county area has concluded.

Debates about the capabilities of the airport, and whether it will be able to accommodate commercial aircraft in addition to corporate jets, are also ongoing.

The report, conducted by the local engineering firm Neel-Schaffer at the request of the Madison County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA), analyzed areas of Madison County that were within 30 minutes of an airport or airfield as part of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements.

A survey of local businesses and other potential airport customers will follow this study, which was presented to the Board of Supervisors on Monday.

No cost estimate or size of the airport has been determined.

"This (study) puts us in the mode to see if we need to do this," Tim Coursey, executive director of MCEDA, told the board.

The study showed that while the southern portions of the county were well within a 30 minute drive of Bruce Campbell Field in Madison and Jackson-Evers International Airport, the northeast region of the county and Flora were outside of this drive time.

With the exception of a small eastern portion of the county, which is within half an hour of the Carthage airport, these areas of Madison County were also longer than 30 minutes away from the Bruce Campbell, Yazoo City, Lexington, Kosciusko, and Carthage airports.

Tom Henderson, an assistant engineering manager in Neel-Schaffer's airport division which conducted the study, said that the drive time study represents a "first step" on the road to eventually constructing a new airport in the county.

He noted that the project would have to be close to I-55 in order to provide the kind of service that local businesses would expect.

"The better highway access we can have, the more likely we are to justify it, and to bring some value to the community," said Henderson.

Construction of an airport close to I-55 in the area designated by the study would place the airport close to the Big Black River, the northern border of the county. Henderson said that building the airport near the river, while more difficult, would not be extraordinarily challenging.

"It would be a hurdle that would have to be overcome," he said. "I don't think it would be substantially more expensive than building it (somewhere else)."

He added that, unlike in past airport studies, there are no plans to either relocate or otherwise alter the operations of Bruce Campbell in Madison.

Coursey said that another possible location was on the northwest corner of the intersection of I-55 and Mississippi 16, which has been discussed in the past, although this would place the airport inside of a 30 minute driving time to Bruce Campbell Airport, according to the Neel-Schaffer study.

Henderson said that in order to accommodate corporate jets, such as Gulf streams, and small regional planes, the airport's runway would have to be approximately 5,500 feet long.

Larger airplanes, such as cargo flights from FedEx and UPS and commercial flights from major carriers, would require a minimum runway length of about 7,000 feet, said Henderson.

Since his work only involved driving times from various airports, Henderson pointed out, he did not conduct a demand analysis that would determine what type of airport could eventually be built. That work, he said, would have to be left to the county by conducting surveys involving individuals and businesses.

District 4 Supervisor Karl Banks, who has expressed his interest in researching a new airport for some time, said that he hoped plans for a new airport, if completed soon enough, would increase the chances of Flora being awarded the $500 million bio-medical research laboratory.

He also hoped that major package carriers such as Fed Ex would be able to utilize any new airport.

"A lot of economic opportunities are tied to an airport, and it will create a lot of jobs," said Banks.

District 3 Supervisor Andy Taggart said in his conversations with business leaders in the county, there was a serious desire expressed for a new airport. The new airport should be able to accommodate larger private jets and be located in a rural setting, he said.

Employees at businesses in Gluckstadt, for example, would be able to drive north to the new airport. The study, he said, showed that a perfect "donut hole" existed that could be serviced by a new airport.

"Bottom line, that map is good news," said Taggart.

A new county airport has been a controversial issue in the county for over 20 years, ever since MCEDA first expressed interest in the project in 1984.

Previously proposed locations in Gluckstadt, near Mississippi 43, and at the I-55/Mississippi 16 intersection north of Canton did not gain the necessary support from local government leaders and nearby residents.

Most all of those proposals involved closing Bruce Campbell, which is controlled by the city of Madison, which city officials opposed.