Business View Magazine Apr-2023

157 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 4 DAV IDSON COUNTY A I RPORT Fly High Lexington, and General Manager for the Airport, as such he is very familiar with the day-to-day operation and makeup of the almost 3000 engagements per month. He points to another area of growth, flight schools. “You know, we have known there was a pilot shortage looming for five years,” he begins, “and it is affecting the industry. But at the same time, we see growth. We now have two flight schools at the airport: Elite Flight Academy which does all types of flight school training using both a simulator and four airplanes, and we also have Davidson Flight Academy which also has several airplanes. Both are quite busy, and one opened just before the pandemic while the second started during it.” “Because we are growing the terminal is another project we are looking at,” says Van Der Linden, “We approved funding last year for the design phase and we are working with a budget of six and a half to seven million dollars. All that we know for sure