Business View Magazine Feb 2023

224 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 position compared to literally every other industry because as airport director, he is selling something that he has no control over. As he explained; people fly out on aircraft owned by other entities, and he also is a buyer of something he has no control over and they provide services while not knowing if people will use them. When applied locally, the issue is that there are over a million people in the catchment area – but how do you convince them to use the airport? What other factors are at play when it comes to ticket sales and destinations? “It is the people who choose,” he concludes. “If they buy the tickets then more flights will be made available. I try to get that across as much as possible – it is the users, ultimately, who are in control of the industry and if you choose to fly out of EVV then EVV will grow. If you choose to go to a larger hub, then we will not.” “It’s an excellent program.” Hahn continues. “It puts the power into the hands of the users, and it is all about us empowering them and helping them understand that we will do everything we can from an airport perspective to keep the service we have and to gain additional service, larger aircraft, more frequent flights. We will build for this, but it ultimately comes down to passengers. Fly EVV First keeps this idea front and center.” Evansville Regional recently won an award for Airport Project of the Year recognizing the creation of a Solar Farm on the property. The Solar Farm has its roots in a board decision back in 2017– but was a forward-thinking way of getting Evansville on the map. With this award, it has done just that. “It’s wonderful to be recognized for the work that we’ve done,” says Hahn.“ It’s great to get recognized by your peers. But you know, more importantly, I think we are leading by example, and what is more, we are presenting ourselves in a certain way.” “The moment you walk down the jet bridge and into our building you realize that this is a nice mix of a small hometown airport but also has all the amenities you’d expect at a much larger airport. Then when you walk out, and you see the Solar Farm, I think you realize the