Business View Magazine | June 2019

193 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 and Miami. “This is the halfway point between the two,” Gammon says,” and we actually had commercial service from ’52 to ’55. After that, the jet age came and they stopped coming here. It became a general aviation airport, which it is, still, today. In 1969, they built the new terminal building and this February, we tore it down to build our new one. Between then and now, we’ve had regular business aviation coming in and out and routine general aviation. The majority of our business is commuters going north and south on the east coast. We’re also home to 42 GA aircraft. Right now, we are at maximum capacity for hangar space. We’re looking at purchasing a private hangar that is adjacent to the Airport; buying that and adding to the Airport property.” In addition, Gammon says the Airport is considering designating property outside the Airport’s current perimeter that can be developed into buildable space for any aviation or non- aviation related businesses that may want to locate there. “The city zoned the area around the airport as the Airport Industrial Park,” he THE LUMBERTON REGIONAL A I RPORT explains. “So, all of the adjacent properties are zoned commercial/industrial. And, if it is needed, we would have space where we could expand the Airport out. The city set it up that way. For businesses that may want to utilize the Airport, but don’t want to be on the Airport, we have the ability to work with them. One of the visions of the Airport would be to put some kind of an MRO facility or flight department on, or near, the Airport. We would work with them for whatever they would need. If it’s an aviation business – that’s great; a non-aviation business – that’s great. We’re just looking to be the economic driver that an airport should be to the local economy.” Currently, the North Carolina Department of Transportation estimates that the Lumberton Regional Airport contributes approximately $14 million, annually, to the local city and county economies. The Airport has four full-time employees and three part-timers, all employed by the city. Its operating budget is two thirds funded by the city and one third by Robeson County. For capital