Middle Georgia Regional Airport Hits Major Milestones in Passenger Travel

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – New numbers released from the Middle Georgia Regional airport show more and more people are flying out of Macon. Officials say this year the airport has reached some major milestones.

The sky is the limit for the Middle Georgia Regional airport, but it wasn’t always like that. For the past decade, the number of passengers flying out of Macon steadily decreased, that is until Silver Airways took flight back in April. Now more and more people are going Silver.

“This year marked the first year we had an annual increase in roughly 10 years,” airport manager Doug Faour said.

Faour broke down the numbers from this year. Before Silver Airways started, 143 people flew from Macon in the first three months. From April to September, 524 passengers flew out of the airport. Faour says that is a 226% increase in just six months.

“It’s very positive for everyone and we’re excited about it,” Faour said. “We’re going to continue to work to continue to improve those numbers.”

Another major milestone: in September, 200 people boarded flights from Macon. Faour says that many passengers boarding flights in one month hasn’t happened since 2008. He credits cost savings and convenience as some of the reasons why people are flying from here.

“Middle Georgians are becoming familiar with it again and they’re realizing what an asset it is.”

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert adds he sees a bigger future for the airport.

“We don’t know what it is, that’s the exciting part,” Reichert said. “Could be air cargo, could be more MRO work, could be more aerospace manufacturing or it could be as a passenger airport.”

Anyway you look at it, it is only going up from here.

Silver Airways offers daily flights from Macon to Atlanta and Orlando, Florida. Visit www.silverairways.com for more information.