By Elena Marsh, The Pilot
A major commercial airline is interested in beginning service at the Moore County Airport, aviation consultants say, but local officials are yet to be convinced the service is worth the investment.
At a joint meeting Tuesday, the county’s Board of Commissioners and Airport Authority board received a briefing on research toward potentially restarting passenger service locally. Commissioners, who have long been skeptical of using any public money to recruit or subsidize a carrier, remained so Tuesday.
“The presentation looked good and the facts you’ve put out there are pretty,” said Commissioner Jim Von Canon. “But some of the facts feel like a best-case scenario of the world.”
The data, presented by Volaire Aviation Consulting Managing Partner Jack Penning, was based on an initial study on commercial service conducted last year for the county’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. That study concluded that Moore County travelers could fill 12 flights everyday if 8 percent of the passengers who now typically fly in and out of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) used local service.