Jackson Airline Struggles to Survive
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Jackson’s newest airline has been in business in the Hub City for five months and is struggling to survive. Despite a strong push by the community for a commercial airline service, numbers remain much lower than expected. Airline officials said if passenger numbers do not pick up, then Seaport could fly out of Jackson for good. Jason and Kim Snyder boarded their plane excited to arrive in Nashville in less than an hour. “We thought we could save a lot of travel time and maybe get an extra day of vacation, leaving straight from Jackson,” said Jason Snyder. The Snyders said by flying Seaport, they are saving money for gas and parking. “So people are understanding, ‘Hey, if I’m going to see Mom or I’m going to go home for Memorial Day, or go visit a friend, this is what I need to do,'” said Executive Director for the Jackson-Madison County Airport Authority, Steve Smith. But according to the airline, the number of passengers needs to almost double, or Jackson may have to say, ‘goodbye’ to Seaport for good. “Early on, it was about five or six people a day. We can’t continue with that,” added Smith. Seaport is averaging two to four passengers per flight. It operates four round-trip flights each weekday and two on Saturday and Sunday. “Just to make the minimums I think we need to have ten people a day,” said Smith. Pilots said in this economy, West Tennesseans need to take advantage of this time and money-saving way to travel. “With the weekend coming up, the travel weekend, with the rising fuel prices we really look forward to seeing passengers chose to fly instead of drive,” said Seaport Chief Pilot, Noel McDermott. Smith said it would be a real shame for Jackson to lose commercial service again just because travelers do not take advantage of what is available in their own backyard, and it is up to everybody out there that can use the system to use it. Seaport Airlines has been flying routes to and from Memphis to Nashville since January. Their contract with McKellar-Sipes could end in January if sales do not pick up.
