News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Upper Cumberland Regional Airport looks to continue its growth as it sees more traffic and new businesses.
Airport Manager Dean Selby said the airport has seen a progressive increase in use over the last several months.
“That’s kind of a two-way street. It’s partly us bringing business in, partly the area growing and bringing business to us,” Selby said. “I think they kind of go hand-in-hand. Us bringing people in sometimes helps build the economy, and the economy building helps bring other people in. It’s kind of one of those win-win situations.”
Selby said the airport will soon begin evaluating its current services and ways it could expand as they reconstruct their annual layout plan.
“Now we’re to the point where we’re having to take into account all this growth and to look at where we’re going to be moving in the future,” Selby said. “I know next year we’ve got two or three projects that the state is planning on participating in. I think they’ve seen the growth, they see what we’re doing, they see where we’re going, and they’re more willing to participate in that.”
Selby said he would like to see expanded freight and charter flight operations moving forward.
“Right now we’re running quite a bit of freight operations through the summer, and being able to better accommodate those larger aircraft helps a little bit,” Selby said. “We’re also running more charter-type services than this airport has ever seen in the past. For that, we need a little better equipment for handling luggage and moving passengers through.”
Country music singer Aaron Tippin announced earlier this year he would open a new warbird restoration business at the airport and pay for an $88,000 grant to build a new hangar. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office will also store their newly-acquired helicopter at the airport.
