At today’s meeting of the Texarkana Regional Airport Authority board members discussed new flights to Houston and ongoing capital project improvements.
People can now book tickets for the new United Airlines flight to Houston starting in February 2022. Airport officials said folks are making plans for spring break and tickets have already been sold. A round-trip ticket to Houston from Texarkana is $223.
With the passing of the 15B Infrastructure Bill into law, TRA’s new terminal could be completed ahead of schedule. This would allow other big capital projects to be started sooner than expected.
Director of Aviation Paul Mehrlich did voice some concern, “Every project across the country did just get greenlit. So, it’s already hard to get steel – now it’s about harder to get steel, which means the price of steel, the price of concrete, and asphalt will go up. So as we get more money things will also cost more.”
October’s enplanement (the boarding of an aircraft by a revenue passenger) count went up. Mehrlich noted that he is very interested in seeing November’s enplanement count after receiving a weekly report from TSA in regards to Thanksgiving flights. Adding, “we are only 15% below our pre-pandemic prime.”
In preparation for meetings between TRA’s T-hanger tenets and the board, governing documents outlining the minimum standards, rules/regulations, and rules for construction have been updated. The meetings will give tenets an opportunity at the start and end of the process to express their opinion.
Aviators interested in adding their name to the growing waiting list for hanger space should contact Airport Real Estate Manager Tyler Brown at (870) 774-2171 or email tyler.brown@txkairport.com.
