Which came first, the airlines or the passengers? That question popped into my head following a post I'd made on the Remember When in Hattiesburg Facebook page. That page is interesting because it gives us Hattiesburgers a place to reminisce about growing up in days of Hattiesburg's past and, on occasion, we get into friendly discussions about days of Hattiesburg's present — and future. A while back, I started a discussion on the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport
Hattiesburg and Laurel did not always share an airport. Both cities had their own municipal airports, each serviced by the long-gone Southern Airways.
One year, my mother, a schoolteacher, took her first plane ride, flying to Houston from Hattiesburg. In Houston, she would be taking classes to enhance her teaching credentials at that city's Rice University. We were sad that our mother would be leaving us for a few weeks but were we ever excited about riding with my father to see her plane take off from the airport.
We're talking about the mid-1960s. In those days, if you were flying out of Hattiesburg, you'd make a short drive to Palmer's Crossing and the Hattiesburg Municipal Airport. We know it today as Bobby Chain Municipal Airport, named in honor of our city's former mayor and business leader.
We were so excited to see the Southern Airways plane as it came in for a landing. As you might imagine, the aircraft was not a jet but a small, propellor-driven DC-3. As small as it was, it may as well have been a 747 to us country kids from Mississippi. The plane would fly from Hattiesburg to New Orleans where, no doubt, my mother would change planes, continuing to Houston on a much larger passenger jet.
Hattiesburg's Bobby Chain Airport and Laurel's own municipal airport no longer provide scheduled passenger service. In the 1970s, the Hattiesburg-Laurel air traffic markets were combined, giving us Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport.
Southern Airways began serving Laurel first, in 1955. Service from Hattiesburg didn't begin until 1960. With Hattiesburg and Laurel being similarly sized markets less than 30 miles apart, it made sense to combine the two cities' airline service and by 1975, the formerly named Pine Belt Regional Airport was born. In those early days, Southern serviced the airport with a relatively large DC-9 jet service, connecting to Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Southern later merged with North Central to form Republic Airlines, which began serving Pine Belt Regional. Republic, like so many airlines over the years, fell victim to a corporate merger and was gobbled up by a larger airline. Today, there are a relatively small number of big airlines compared to what seemed like dozens back in the 1970s. And, as might be expected, those big airlines fly into larger markets, where the passengers and the dollars are.
Over the years, Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport — airport code PIB — has been serviced by commuter offshoots of a number of major airlines including including American and Northwest Airlines, one of those carriers that no longer exists. Today, our airport is served by United Express, a commuter link of giant United Airlines. United Express flies small commuter jets from the Pine Belt that feed directly into Houston's massive George Bush Intercontinental Airport. From there, local passengers board giant jetliners connecting them to any major American city — and to the world.
United Express is the only airline that services PIB. In fact, our local airport has always been serviced by just one airline, and those flights are subsidized by the U.S. government ensuring that smaller markets, like Pine Belt's, have access to commercial airline service. That brings us back to the question I raised on the Remember When In Hattiesburg page.
I posed the idea that the reason Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport doesn't provide more choices for airline service is due to the erosion of our travel market to larger airports within two hours or less drive time from the Hattiesburg area. In fact, it could be said that our being the Hub City, in a way, works against the growth of air traffic at PIB. It would be interesting to know how many Hattiesburg-area residents, on a daily basis, drive to New Orleans, Jackson, Gulfport, or even Mobile for their air travel needs. What if all those travelers, instead, flew out of Pine Belt?
The first thing they'll tell you is there are too few flight choices out of PIB. With only those twice-daily United Express flights to Houston, what's an air traveler to do? In addition, they complain about the cost of flying out of our local airport. It’s a valid argument for sure. But depending on when and where you travel, the cost argument is debatable. When flying out of Pine Belt, the price can often be competitive with those larger airports that ring the Pine Belt. But there's more.
You also have to consider the cost of gasoline, driving to New Orleans or Jackson. And, oh yeah, there's the time factor. You may have to get up hours earlier for your drive to that out-of-town airport, especially if you're flying out of New Orleans and having to deal with that city's traffic along Interstate 10. Wait, I'm not finished.
Parking your car at the airport during your trip? Get your pocketbook out again; you'll have to add airport parking fees. They can range from $10 daily at Gulfport and up to $20 at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The meter is running every day you're away.
Parking fees, along with gasoline, have to be factored into the money you're allegedly saving by flying out of those larger airports. And oh, did I forget to mention? Long-term parking at Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport is free. Considering all of that, is it really "cheaper" to fly out of those larger airports?
Which brings us back to the chicken-or-the-egg question. Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport suffers from market shrinkage due to the number of passengers who abandon our local airport for those long drives down Interstate 59 or U.S. 49.
The Hattiesburg-Laurel market, the combined populations of Forrest, Lamar, and Jones counties, is more than 210,000. Factor in the other counties tied to our market — Covington, Wayne, and Perry — and that number grows to more than a quarter of a million people.
So the question remains in my head. If more of us flew out of PIB rather than driving to Jackson, New Orleans, or Gulfport, who knows? Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport might grab the attention of a second airline.
Elijah Jones is a proud Hattiesburg native who enjoys writing. Email him at edjhubtown@aol.com.
