CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Expansion is planned for the Corpus Christi International Airport (CCIA). City and airport officials recently met with executives in San Antonio at the largest airport meeting in the county to discuss the new services.
Mayor Paulette Guajardo and Councilman Greg Smith joined Airport Aviation Director Kevin Smith to present Corpus Christi as an expanding tourist destination. Their argument? A high demand for more flights, and a lower cost.
Currently, CCIA provides services from American Airlines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines, but after the Routes America Conference more could be on the way.
"We were given the opportunity to meet with many, many airline executives from different airlines and state our case as to why Corpus Christi is where they should expand their services." Said Mayor Guajardo.
"The airlines are actually really looking at Corpus Christi, we are on their radar, many of them. And that's why I took the time to go because I want them to know that the mayor of Corpus Christi holds this as a very high priority."
CCIA Aviation Directory Kevin Smith said that "the meetings went great. Having the mayor there and Counselman Smith is something that airlines don't see in these meetings. I mean, it's very, very rare."
They met with 15 airlines over two days. While some asked to remain unnamed, notable meetings took place with Mexican and Columbian carriers Aeromar, Aeroméxico, and Avianca.
"I think the first carrier that comes in, the other carriers are going to see that and it will also spark a small fare war. And so we'll start to see fares come down, more people traveling out of our airport and it's just it starts to build on itself."
Smith's goal for CCIA expansion is two-fold.
First he wants to add a new carrier, and expand routes for existing carriers. Second, he wants to gain support from local businesses for the airport's operations.
City Council recently approved a Fly Local Pledge to encourage business leaders to use CCIA for traveling.
"What we're asking is for the business community to come together and support the local airport." Smith said, "It shows the airlines we're serious and we've already got about 20 companies that have already signed the pledge."
It's been almost 25 years since CCIA has added a new airline. It was back in 1997 when Delta arrived, but they left in 2008 because of the recession.
Now? Officials say there's enough demand to bring in new carriers and expand the routes to CCIA's most traveled-to cities.
Smith explains that, "If you look at Denver, Las Vegas and Los Angeles together, if we could get a non-stop to Denver that connected to Las Vegas or Los Angeles, you're talking about 150-160 people a day. So, that's big enough to fill up a 737."
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