Passenger jet service returns to Meridian

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
May 4, 2003
Meridian Regional Airport re-enters the jet age this morning.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines' last Brasilia turboprop airplane is scheduled to take off from the airport at 7:10 a.m. to be replaced by the airline's 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet, scheduled to arrive for service at 8:15 a.m.
Tom Williams, president and chief executive officer of Meridian Regional Airport, said efforts to bring jet service back to Meridian have been in the works for about 20 years.
Previous jet service at the airport ended in 1984. Delta Airlines offered jet service on DC-9s until 1979, and Republic Airlines had DC-9 service in Meridian until 1984. Williams said jet service left smaller markets after federal deregulation of the airlines in the late 1970s.
Delta Airlines bought Atlantic Southeast Airlines in 1999. The new jet service for Meridian was announced in February by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, less than a month after Williams was named 2002 Commercial Service Airport Manager of the Year for the Southeastern region by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Williams said economic developers have been working to restore jet service in Meridian since the day it ended.
He said the new jet service will offer three flights a day connecting to Delta's Atlanta hub, where about 600 flights take off daily to destinations all over the world.
Williams added that Canadair jets are recognized as the quietest commercial aircraft in the world, both inside and outside of the plane.
He also said there is room for expansion of the jet service in Meridian.