An ongoing commercial pilot shortage, which could be exacerbated by reluctance in the U.S. Senate to take immediate action to raise the retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67 years old, could affect the time it will take to get commercial air service back to Athens-Ben Epps Airport, the facility’s director said.
Airport Director Mike Mathews pointed to the pilot shortage − occasioned by fewer pilots leaving military service for civilian airline careers, the high costs and lengthiness of commercial pilot training, and a spate of retirements around the recent coronavirus pandemic, which restricted air travel – as a reason why airlines may be moving slowly to expand their travel options.
At a recent conference designed to bring airlines together with airports interested in establishing – or in the case of Athens-Ben Epps Airport, reestablishing – commercial air service, Mathews and other airport staff spoke with representatives of four airlines – Avelo, Breeze, Allegiant and American Airlines – about offering commercial air service from Athens.
More: Athens airport wants to pursue American Airlines, others as new service provider
At a recent meeting of the Athens-Ben Epps Airport Authority, Mathews updated members on prospects for commercial passenger air service from Athens. Airlines “understand it could work, would work,” Mathews said, but he added that the pilot shortage looms as an issue.
The status of the pilot shortage is currently a subject of debate. On one hand, the Air Line Pilots Association, the world’s largest pilot union, contends that the more than 11,000 airline pilot certificates issued in 2023 exceeded both the forecasted need and the demand for new pilots.
That is, however, disputed by the Regional Airline Association, a nonprofit organization representing nearly 20 regional airlines, which has said major airlines hired more than 12,000 pilots last year, thus outstripping the number of new airline pilot certificates issued.
At present, Athens-Ben Epps Airport officials are concentrating on bringing American Airlines to the airport, with hopes of the airline likely offering flights from Athens to its hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport through one of its subsidiary or contract regional airlines.
Mathews told the authority Tuesday that he is continuing to work toward a meeting with American Airlines officials, along with local economic development, Chamber of Commerce and other interested parties, at the airline’s Dallas, Texas headquarters, to press the local case for American to serve Athens-Ben Epps Airport. Mathews is hoping to have the meeting scheduled within four to five months.
“In the next year or two, I feel like we could get something going,” Mathews told the authority.
But it was also clear Tuesday that the clock has started ticking for an arrangement with American Airlines. The airport’s own strategic plan calls for completion of recruitment of an airline for service from Athens by the end of 2025.
That same plan, though, also calls for airport staff to start sometime this year to research alternatives to “legacy carriers” like American Airlines. The nation’s legacy carriers, with long histories of uninterrupted air service, lots of aircraft and plenty of domestic and international routes, include Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in addition to American Airlines.
“I’m talking to other folks, too,” in the effort to get commercial passenger air service to Athens-Ben Epps Airport, Mathews said in an interview.
Another hint that time could become a factor in efforts to get American Airlines at Athens-Ben Epps Airport is a call in the airport’s strategic plan to consider revising its air service development efforts to focus on another hub airport, such as Washington Dulles International in Washington, D.C.
While American Airlines has a hub in Washington, D.C., it is at Washington Reagan National Airport. United Airlines has a hub at Washington Dulles International.
Still, Mathews said that airport officials are continuing to concentrate on American Airlines as a potential commercial passenger air service provider from Athens-Ben Epps Airport. One reason, he said, is American’s strong support for a $750,000 federal Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) grant awarded to the airport a few years ago.
The SCASDP money will become available once Athens-Ben Epps Airport gets new commercial passenger airline service. It can be used to market the service, and to provide some measure of revenue guarantees to the airline providing the flights.
Currently in the area, outside of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, American Airlines operates flights from Augusta Regional Airport through its subsidiaries – PSA Airlines, Piedmont Airlines and Envoy Air. Flights are available to Charlotte, and to Washington, D.C. and Dallas-Fort Worth.
The airline group also has a presence at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport, with flights to Charlotte, Washington, D.C., Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth and New York.
Athens-Ben Epps Airport has not had scheduled passenger air service since 2014 when SeaPort Airlines halted service to the Tennessee cities of Nashville, Memphis and Jackson. The service was discontinued because the airline could not meet the minimum passenger load required for a federal Essential Air Service subsidy.
The airport’s current interest in American Airlines is not the first time the two entities have explored the provision of commercial air service from Athens.
Almost exactly nine years ago, airport officials were in serious discussions with American Airlines to provide service at Athens-Ben Epps via US Airways Express, which American had then recently acquired.
Those discussions ground to a halt when American Airlines officials told a consultant working with the airport that a shortage of both airplanes and pilots had prompted it to abandon plans for expanding service in Georgia.
