Airport Board To Consider Feasibility Study Over Commercial Flights

A feasibility study on commercial flights at the Upper Cumberland Regional Airport could gain approval this week.

The regional airport board will consider the work authorization of phase one Tuesday. Airport Manager Dean Selby said he expects the motion to pass based on the terms.

“What drives the next phase is what do we see from the first phase,” Selby said. “What do we need to do next is a part of the first study to see what is the next step. That will determine how many different phases there is to this.”

Selby said he anticipates the study to show that commercial flights are possible. Selby the next step would be to get the community involved and see if there is a need for flights.

“Where does the need actually exist?” Selby said. “Is it a feeder route or is a direct flight route? So we got several things to work on over the next year.”

Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting based in Georgia leads the study. Selby said the work authorization agreement is basically a budget over the feasibility study.