Branson airport schedules first flights

Discount U.S. airline AirTran has signed on as the first airline to service popular tourist destination Branson, Mo.

About 8 million tourists visited Branson in 2007, but the town of 7,500 residents has not had a commercial airport until now, USA Today reported Thursday.

About 90 percent of the country-music entertainment center’s visitors arrive by car or bus. The nearest commercial airport is the Springfield-Branson National Airport, 55 miles north of the town, the newspaper said.

Branson has agreed to pay the new Branson Airport $2 for every passenger that lands at the airport — a fee capped at $2 million a year.

The new $150 million airport has one runway and a 58,000-square-foot terminal capable of handling 1 million boardings a year, the newspaper said.

The first flight to Branson will take off from Atlanta on May 11, the newspaper said.