Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid unveiled the Columbia Regional Airport’s decision to have a new connection to Atlanta via Delta Airlines in a conference call Friday.
McDavid opened by stating that during the past few months, MU and the Chamber of Commerce have been working on an initiative called “40 in 2020.” By the year 2020, the Columbia Regional Airport would host 40 percent of all airline travel for mid-Missourians. This would require several hundred passenger jets traveling to major airline hubs each day.
“I am excited to announce the first success in our Columbia Regional Airport initiative,” McDavid said, according to a transcript of the conference call.
McDavid said the airport will begin daily non-stop flights to and from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport beginning June 7.
Hartsfield-Jackson is the busiest airport in the world with the largest airline hub in the world, for Delta Airlines.
McDavid explained the benefit of linking Columbia to the heart of the Southeastern Conference.
“This direct Atlanta connection gives mid-Missourians and particularly University of Missouri faculty, staff and students direct and immediate access into the heart of SEC country,” McDavid said in the call. “Expect mid-Missourians to travel to SEC country in droves. And we expect our SEC partners and competitors, in turn, to visit mid-Missouri and have the times of their lives. Except on the playing field.”
MU sophomore and Atlanta resident Michael Doudna looks forward to the expansion.
“Being from Atlanta, it will make going home just so much more convenient,” Doudna said in an email.
The airport is very excited about the new service, said Jill Stedem, Columbia Public Works Department spokeswoman.
“We’re very excited about the new addition of Atlanta airports and what it will do for Mid-Missouri residents,” she said. “440,000 people reside in our catchment area and there are a lot of businesses that will benefit from this new service.”
Stedem also said the new Atlanta flight will replace the mid-day flight to Memphis, so that each day there will be a morning and evening flight to Memphis and a mid-day flight to Atlanta.
The airport is planning on opening more services in and out of Columbia, which McDavid touched on in the conference call, Stedem said.
“I believe mid-Missouri has a large, unmet demand for air service,” McDavid said in the call. “Our group continues to speak with and negotiate with other air service providers. We need to tap the Chicago market for Chicago’s growing base of University of Missouri students and Chicago’s Asian flight connections. Dallas would provide connections west, increase our international reach, and allow the University of Missouri to focus on Dallas area recruitment.”