Commercial flights officially begin out of McKellar-Sipes Airport

JACKSON, Tenn. — It was a day that has been planned for a long time for a West Tennessee airport.

It was all smiles at McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport Monday morning. We have all heard about how Denver Air was coming to Jackson and how big of an addition that would be.

As of Monday morning, wheels have finally gone up.

“We celebrated the first in-plane passengers on Denver Air connection to Atlanta. We had about 20 or so, and we’re excited about that. We have another flight going out this morning to Chicago that has about 34, I think, on it. We’ll know when they all show up,” said Steve Smith, executive director for the Jackson-Madison County Airport Authority.

It is a 50 passenger jet with a flight attendant and a lavatory. This entire process leading to this day, has consisted of a lot of work and planning.

“If I had told you that we had been working on this for a year, that would just be a scratch of the surface. Last year, in November, the Department of Transportation issued an order for other airlines to look at Jackson and give us a bid so to speak,” said Smith.

A team of 10 people looked at the bids and all decided that Denver Air would be the best option. Smith says that this is a big plus for the West Tennessee area.

“We know that for a community to grow it has to have a good, reliable air service. That was our argument to the U.S. DOT — that we need good, reliable air service. I think they sided with us this time on that,” said Smith.

Denver Air will have two flights each day out of McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport, 5 days per week. Those flights will go to the Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airports.

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