Board commended airport for quick work on closure
Columbia’s Airport Advisory Board commended the airport for getting the airport up and running quickly after the recent closure to air traffic.
The board met at 3 p.m. Wednesday for its monthly meeting at City Hall.
Air traffic was suspended at the airport April 9 for five days while the city made emergency repairs to smooth out a drainage feature on runway 13-31. The shutdown happened after pilots and passengers complained of the bumpy ride and airlines suspended flights to and from the airport.
The airport lists about 18 commercial flights into and out of Columbia on a daily basis, meaning around 90 flights were canceled in the five days the runway was under construction.
According to the 2018 Passenger Load Data on the airport’s website, 20,324 people flew into and out of the airport on average per month last year. With the airport being closed for five days, about 3,387 passengers could have experienced flight cancellations.
The community relations director for Columbia, Steve Sapp, said the city will not have the exact amount of revenue lost until next month, but there are impacts on the community that may not be able to be measured.
“We know that Columbia Regional Airport is an economic engine for Columbia, Jefferson City and the surrounding counties, and it’s those impacts that will probably never really be able to be measured,” Sapp said.
He expects there will be a change, but it’s something the airport experiences every year with weather-related cancellations.
“Even though this was a little bit longer stretch then what we’d normally see, it will probably have the same type of impact we see in smaller increments,” Sapp said.
He also mentioned that both major airlines serving the airport will be adding flights within the next month, which he hopes will offset some of the lost revenue.
“There’s a great probability that the short-term closure will really be just a small blip, because we are adding capacity and so forth throughout the year,” Sapp said.
