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EDITORIAL: Downturn Temporary: MB Airport Lull Doesn't Negate Terminal Need

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 May 2006, 15:00 CDT

By The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

May 3--High fuel prices, airline bankruptcies and the collapse of Hooters Air all have taken their toll on Myrtle Beach International Airport. As The Sun News reported last week, flights into the airport this year are down 30 percent from the corresponding period last year, and passenger traffic through the airport has fallen 20 percent.

Spirit Air, one of the airport's stalwart carriers, introduced a new Boston route last week, and it is increasing flights from the airport to Detroit, New York City and Atlantic City, N.J., so that helps offset the deficit a bit. And airport leaders are negotiating with AirTran for expanded service.

Nonetheless, the airport's decline after three years of steady passenger growth will reignite local activism against construction of the planned new terminal on the airport's west side. This is a short-sighted view that Horry County Council should resist. The flights-passenger downturn is a function of external forces beyond the control of leaders in our communities.

The airport's temporary downturn does not signify that the terminal plan is an exercise in folly. Canceling the project and relying on the airport's current east side terminal to handle future passenger traffic would be an exercise in folly.

The airport, after all, serves the residents of Horry and Georgetown counties and Brunswick County, N.C., all of which are experiencing robust growth -- explosive growth, in southern Brunswick County's case. Moreover, local, regional and state tourism leaders work daily to transform the face of tourism across our communities.

True, regional drive-in traffic to beachside hotels and attractions will be our tourism mainstay for a long time to come. But the area's golf courses (most of which have not been and will not be redeveloped for other purposes) market themselves increasingly across the nation and internationally.

Moreover, developing alternative forms of tourism with international appeal is part of the state's economic development plan. Heritage tourism, for example, could bring impressive numbers of new visitors to Conway. Ecotourism could bring in visitors more interested in the region's interior waterways than the beach.

On top of all that, state and local efforts to develop nontourism components to the regional economy continue, as well. The county's nice weather, educated or educable work force, strong business climate and availability of industrial land provide good reason to believe these efforts will succeed over time.

The airport is a common denominator to population growth, tourism-expansion efforts and economic development. As these initiatives pay off, demand for terminal space at the airport will increase.

Things may be rough at the airport right now, but our strengthening economy and county leaders' airline advocacy soon will bring those flight and passenger numbers back up. Our communities have too much going for them for the fate of the airport to turn out any other way.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

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Source: The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

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