Grant could help bring new airline, destination to airport - Texarkana Gazette

Texarkana Regional Airport is seen on Nov. 20 in Texarkana, Ark. The airport is getting a new terminal and a flight training school will be built. Dr. Kenny Haskins, the Arkansas-side city manager, anticipates even more growth to come for the airport and the rest of the city. Photo by Hunt Mercier / Texarkana Gazette.

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Finding and getting more than one commercial air passenger service is a future goal of Texarkana Regional Airport officials and securing grant money to achieve that objective could help.
The Texarkana Regional Airport Authority Board of Directors plans to meet at 9 a.m. Thursday to consider seeking a $1 million U.S. Transportation Department Small Community Air Service Development grant.
If received, the grant money will be used tp market for a new route, as well as providing minimum revenue guarantees according to Dec. 11 email correspondence with Texarkana Regional Airport Director Paul Mehrlich.
"Last week (prior to Dec. 11), an airline indicated that they would provide us (Texarkana Regional) a letter of support for a route to a new city should we receive the grant," the correspondence states. "Revenue guarantees provide the airline a minimum amount of revenue during the early months of operations, as people are still learning about the new route."
The airport's meeting notice stated that the city of Texarkana, Texas, would be sponsoring this grant.
"When offering minimum revenue guarantees, the initial funds may not come from airport revenues," Mehrlich said. "So pending approval of the Texas-side City Council, payments to the airline would initially come from the city and the airport would manage and use the grant to provide reimbursements. This means the city, while putting their the money up front, wouldn't take a loss as funds would be reimbursed within 30 days."
Airport board members would have to approve seeking the grant, while the Texas-side City Council will only have to approve accepting the grant, Mehrlich said. He added that applications are due Jan. 26 and are usually awarded in February.
Last year, about 57 airports applied but only 18 were awarded this type of grant funds.
Mehrlich went on to say that the airport will submit a packet with the request and letters of support from the airline for a specific destination. If awarded, the grant will be good for four years.
"We will be competing against many other communities but we believe we have a strong case," he said. "There are no guarantees we will be selected — and even if we are, the process of starting a new route can take a year, which would mean new air service would start in 2022 at the earliest."
Presently, the airport has only one commercial flight destination -— Dallas-Ft Worth International Airport.
In other business, board members will listen to reports delivered by the airport's Personnel Committee, Operations Committee and Marketing Committee.

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Grant could help bring new airline, destination to airport - Texarkana Gazette
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