More destinations on horizon if Macon to D.C. flights take off

The success of the carrier offering flights from Middle Georgia Regional Airport to Washington, D.C., could lead to additional routes.

On Tuesday, the Macon-Bibb County Commission’s Operations and Finance Committee voted to move forward with accepting a $4.7 million grant that would allow Contour Airlines to operate out of the Macon airport. The airline would offer two nonstop round trips six days a week to Washington Dulles International Airport, officials said Tuesday.

“It’s a hub that can take you everywhere in the world,” airport manager Erick D’Leon said.

The proposal also allows some flexibility for additional routes. Contour is owned by Tennessee-based Corporate Flight Management. The Department of Transportation grant will subsidize the carrier for at least two years.

“They are investigating the possibility of running charter flights from Dulles to Atlantic City,” Mayor Robert Reichert said.

At the height of flights out of the regional airport, Delta Air Lines and Eastern Airlines were on board. But eventually Eastern’s departure was followed by Delta’s, which had one of its subsidiaries, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, providing flights. By 2008, that company had lifted its operations from the airport as well.

“Once they left, the number of enplanements plummeted just like pushing cars off a cliff,” Reichert said. “It went from more than 10,000 enplanements a year to virtually none.”

Contour will likely being offering flights in the spring or summer and will have an introductory price as low as $49 each way.

A couple of other carriers failed to continue operating for a long period of time, the latest being Silver Airways, which left in November 2014. Airport and Macon-Bibb officials decided to regroup after Silver’s exodus, which was exacerbated by larger airline companies hiring pilots away from regional carriers, Reichert said.

“We had a recess of about 12 months (while) we waited for conditions to clear up in airline industry,” he said.

While trying to go for a different type of federal grant, the regional airport was able to attract Contour, a new airline that now offers flights out of a couple other Southeast cities. The regional airport has had some recent success with monthly flights offered to Biloxi, Mississippi, which regularly attract at least 100 passengers each time, D’Leon said.

As logistics with Contour are completed, the focus is also turning toward marketing the flights to area businesses and residents. Washington, D.C., is the second most popular flight destination in Middle Georgia, in part due to Robins Air Force Base, officials have said.

Dangerous dogs

In other business, the commission’s Public Safety Committee moved a proposal ahead to create a new board to handle dangerous dog cases.

The proposal, which will be on the commission’s Jan. 17 agenda, would have the commission appoint a board made up of a veterinarian, professional animal handler, health care provider, animal welfare advocate and two other at-large positions. The new appeals board would provide better expertise for the types of hearings that now go before the Bibb County Board of Health, officials said.

“I don’t foresee there will be a lot of of (hearings), but one is enough,” said Commissioner Elaine Lucas, who serves on the health board. “You need people who feel confident in their decision. We as a health board did not feel confident in our decision to really put our stamp of approval on the designation of dogs as dangerous.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "More destinations on horizon if Macon to D.C. flights take off."