One of Alabama Gulf Coast's busiest airports might soon be going commercial. Currently Jack Edwards Airport serves only private flights, but if the recommendations of an engineering study are approved the airport could be accepting commercial jet traffic within 5 years.
The airport currently has about 80,000 takeoffs and landings each year. Airport officials expect that number could double, and have proposed a plan to grow the airport in response to the increased demand by Gulf Shores vacation goers, conventioneers and other visitors.
Gulf Shores considers commercial jetliners
New commuter terminal proposedGULF SHORES -- As south Baldwin County's beach cities grow, so too must the airport that serves them. That's what airport officials are saying after plans for a commuter terminal were rolled out last week.
Within five years, connecting flights by commercial airlines could be using Jack Edwards Airport to go to and from major cities like Atlanta, if the recommendations made by a private engineering firm are approved by airport and city officials.
The airport, which has two runways and is on 830 acres east of Alabama 59, now provides service for private air travel only. Nearly $38 million in construction projects to be completed in three stages during the next 20 years have been proposed in a report commissioned by Gulf Shores to determine the area's aviation needs by 2025, according to consultants with Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon Inc.
The engineering, architectural and surveying firm tapped to conduct the study has 12 locations throughout Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio.
The first stage of the plan includes a 32,000-square-foot commuter terminal with waiting areas and ticketing and baggage services accommodating commercial flights to and from the airport.
"The entire south Baldwin County coastal community is in a phenomenal growth period. It's going to continue to grow," said Airport Authority Manager Russ Kilgore. "And the airport needs to grow with it."
Airport officials have not met with any commercial airlines yet, Kilgore said.
"We haven't knocked on any doors and will not do that until we further study the economics and demographics of the area," he said. "It stands to reason, though, that with the millions of visitors we have every year, commercial services are going to look to expand to this area."
About 80,000 takeoffs and landings were fielded at the airport last year -- a figure that could double by 2025, according to the report.
For two years the airfield has been operating in the black and, according to a recent study conducted by the Alabama Department of Transportation Aeronautics Bureau, Jack Edwards Airport contributes more than $11 million to the local economy each year. Read more