Anyone with knowledge on the potential take over of the Jackson airport in Pearl?
things getting worse out there
things getting worse out there
OT: Jackson airport
- Thread starter msugrad2003
- Start date
My bad….it wasn’t too long ago the state was looking to takeover the airport, from the city of Jackson.
The law passed by the legislature in 2016 to re-make the airport authority board of commissioners from solely appointed by the Mayor of Jackson to appointed by a mixture of metro area governments, the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor was immediately challenged in court by the sitting commissioners and the leadership of the COJ. The case was assigned to the worst possible federal judge and has languished for 8 years. Interlocutory appeals have taken the case up to the 5th circuit three separate times and each time the 5th circuit has reversed the trial judge and returned the case for further proceedings. Nothing can happen with respect to implementation of the 2016 law until the case is resolved. The City of Jackson has no incentive for the case to be resolved. The trial judge is doing everything in his power to block the implementation of the law. And the current administration in DC is not favorable to a change in the airport board make-up. Draw your own conclusions.
Will a change with the board make the airport better? I know JAN has a pretty decent annual passenger count but it’s hard to imagine the passenger count going much higher and drawing in more competition, so therefore losing fares.
I’ve never had an issue flying in and out of Jackson. I usually like it more than other places because of the lack of people. I know nothing about the airport either, I know the leadership is not great, so I could see the airport being run better.
I’ve never had an issue flying in and out of Jackson. I usually like it more than other places because of the lack of people. I know nothing about the airport either, I know the leadership is not great, so I could see the airport being run better.
That’s a little harsh.
COJ, good or bad, owns the airport. If suburbanites don’t like it, they shouldn’t have moved out. Their setup is no different than many airports around the south, including Birmingham and Atlanta. But either way, if they wanted different leadership, here are the options:
1 - Another civil entity buys it. Could be a city, group of cities, county, group of counties. But yes, they must BUY it (not the best option, but satisfies the COJ haters);
2 - Bring one or any combo of the above into the mix and form a bigger governing authority. That means bringing your checkbook, and also means working with the COJ, the current owner (best option - see Gulfport-Biloxi for an example of great governance and leadership);
3 - Try to forcefully take it over, piss everyone off, and end up in court. There are state laws and federal regulations that must be followed, so yeah, it’s in court (worst option)
It’s MS, so of course we choose Option 3.
Is COJ running the airport well? No. But it’s still their airport, bottom line.
Maybe some, as far as passenger counts and recruiting airlines. There’s things you can do, but by and large, it’s about the ambition of the leadership to grow the airport and make it convenient and aesthetically pleasing, maybe growing some ancillary economic things like cargo. Rather than keeping it small time and trying to mooch off it.
The biggest thing people in central Ms need to do is to get out and see how other people do things. Its always been amazing to me how people in the Jackson Metro seem to think nothing else exists outside their bubble (and whatever route they take for summer/winter vacations).
“’Now I want you to tell me just one thing more: Why do you hate the South?’
‘I don’t hate it,’ Quentin said, quickly, at once, immediately. ‘I don’t hate it,’ he said. I don’t hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark: I don’t. I don’t! I don’t hate it! I don’t hate it!”
The above has been my feelings toward Jackson the last 10 years, but I didn’t jump off a bridge, and I’ve realized that I do, in fact, hate it
‘I don’t hate it,’ Quentin said, quickly, at once, immediately. ‘I don’t hate it,’ he said. I don’t hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark: I don’t. I don’t! I don’t hate it! I don’t hate it!”
The above has been my feelings toward Jackson the last 10 years, but I didn’t jump off a bridge, and I’ve realized that I do, in fact, hate it
MSU, and by proxy MS and ultimately Jackson, are a part of all of us, whether we like it or not.
They hired a new CEO last year, Rosa Beckett. I don't know much about her except she worked previously at the Jacksonville airport.
My stance with any of these type positions or appointments is "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" until they prove me wrong.
My stance with any of these type positions or appointments is "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" until they prove me wrong.
To the COJ’s credit, ever since the law was passed they have done a better job of making competent appointments to the board and making better hires. In 2016, the board was predominately made up of clergy from the City of Jackson who just paid for themselves to go to the Paris Air Show every other year.
If you don’t think leadership matters, again, go check out the Gulfport airport.
This isn’t a shot at Jackson, I’m just saying, leadership matters.
If you’re talking about Jackson specifically, maybe I guess. Just know that’s not all of them.
The board makeup is slightly better. Rosa is legit, but she’s hamstrung by a budget that cannot keep pace with basic maintenance and operational needs. How hard is it to just get the escalators operational? I mean, it’s not like they are being asked to make the milk shake machine work.
Last edited:
I'm speaking of Jackson and to some degree the areas around Jackson. As I said, I don't know Rosa but I wish her the best. I'm just not going to get excited about a change in leadership at the airport.
I’m definitely guilty of thinking other similar size airports are likely the same as Jackson. I can’t remember the last time I flew into an airport I’d think was comparable to jackson. So i definitely probably overlook crappy parts of Jackson’s airport
Has this thread failed to submit airport cutie pics thus far? That's always been my favorite thing about airports.
Ain’t nern. What you think this is, Atlanta???
Have you ever been in the Jackson airport?
A few times. Maybe I'm just remembering talent in Amsterdam, Dublin, DFW and a few Cali Airports.
I have used that exact quote to describe my feelings many times. Not about Jackson. I think almost nothing about Jackson. About the South as in the quote. This airport situation seems like another Mississippi is going to be Mississippi.
I sometimes wonder if that was Harkins' intent - just simply to light a fire under them, and let them know people were watching. He had to have known that it would take years to wind its way through court, and starting a new airport governing body would have been work. But he also had to have know it would cost thousands, maybe even millions, of dollars, before it was resolved. So who knows.
Again, seems like the best thing to do would have been to get in a room and discuss the idea that the counties around Jackson want a say in the airport, and we're willing to work together to figure out how best to do that.
In what way(s) getting worse? I interact with the Jxn Airport several times/year. True that amenities are out of service longer than what seems reasonable (restrooms, escalators, elevators, etc.) and there's a lack of food/beverage and dry goods, but all in all, it's a very easy airport for parking and to navigate and usually short waits.
Last edited:
Rumor swirling about a takeover that includes more than just the airport. Sealed indictments and such...
A couple of things:
There's more to an Commercial airport than just passenger travel. Honestly I'm not sure how much an airport can drive passenger travel because it depends so much on the size and affluence of the population it serves. They can do some marketing, but there's only so much that can move the needle. They can try to make the experience nicer so that people in Hattiesburg pick JAN over MSY (fat chance there) or people in Winona (or wherever is halfway between MEM and JAN) to pick JAN over MEM and for people in Meridian to pick JAN over BHM, but most people are going to pick based on availability of flights and price, both of which are largely determined by the population and affluence around the airport. But they have more ability to move the needle on economic development dependent on a good airport. No clue how Jackson Airport executives do on that.
That said, while I haven't flown out of JAN in a long time, when I did, it definitely wasn't nice. Just worn out and didn't feel clean although that probably (or just hopefully?) was a perception based on the facilities being worn out and not actually being dirtier. And as small as JAN is, spending $50k every other year on updating carpet and furniture in the airport rather than a junket to paris could probably go a long way towards making the airport feel a lot nicer.
I would be surprised if the City of Jackson owns the airport. The airport commission is probably a statutory entity set up by the state legislature. And the City of Jackson also likely can't make the argument that they've paid for the airport. There is probably a ton of multimodal and FAA grant money dumped into the facilities at the least, and probably other state and federal money also.
You could make the same argument for having capitol police or the water and sewer system being taken over. Like it or not, Mississippi needs Jackson to be a functioning city. That means that it needs clean running water, a sewer system that keeps raw sewage out of streets and ultimately waterways, at least some places that are policed and where crimes are prosecuted with reasonable timeliness and with sentences that act as an effective deterrent, and a functioning airport. It'd be nice if the City of Jackson could do that without the state or feds stepping in, but the only one they hadn't completely failed on was the airport, and with the amount of graft they had in the open, it doesn't seem crazy to think that they were rapidly moving in the direction of the water and sewer system, where lifecycle maintenance was siphoned off until there was a major mess for the state and feds to clean up.
ETA: either you or the mods edited what I originally quoted from you, but glad one of y’all did.
Prepare to be surprised then. The City owns the airport. That's a fact. Yes, the vast majority of the money to build and maintain the airport comes from grants, PFCs, and revenues it generates. But the only contributed equity to the airport is the City of Jackson. The City owns it.
Having flown out of both multiple times, MSY is obviously incredibly nice. But JAN is way easier. MSY ( and credit them for being busy) requires reserving a long term parking spot ahead of time Then entering on the bottom and going up to the third level if you need to check a bag or talk to the gate. I’m sure they did this for a reason but I don’t know why. Bag drop line is pretty slow if you are checking. And security for non-TSA is pretty slow. JAN needs freshening up but no one is connecting there so it’s not anyone needs to spend a bunch of time there.
Right on.
Price is going to drive where folks fly out of (Jxn vs NOLA vs Memphis), but Jxn is super easy. I've probably flown through a hundred plus airports and Jxn is the best (other than very small airports). I've arrived in Jxn so late that all the lights in the building were turned off
Jxn, the city, airport, etc., is never going to be a commercial hub nor have much commercial traffic.
It's gonna take one heck of a price differential to make me drive 3 hours to New Orleans, Memphis, or Gulfport. I don't fly often, but when I do, it's always been out of JAN no matter what the price. Now, like someone said, if you live in McComb, Hattiesburg, Meridian or Grenada, it makes sense to compare two airports. Or maybe if you're doing something crazy like flying a family of 6.Right on.
Price is going to drive where folks fly out of (Jxn vs NOLA vs Memphis), but Jxn is super easy. I've probably flown through a hundred plus airports and Jxn is the best (other than very small airports). I've arrived in Jxn so late that all the lights in the building were turned off
Jxn, the city, airport, etc., is never going to be a commercial hub nor have much commercial traffic.
I promise you, the City owns the Airport. And all that other money the airport has gotten is one of the big reasons the state can't just take it over. There are obligations. JMAA is just an arm of the city, no other entities are included. Similar to BHM and ATL, I guess they think they need sitting board members to make decisions. Some airport directors report directly to their owners, without a board. The 'board' or authority is the city council or county commission. In my opinion you really don't need an entity like JMAA unless you have multiple entities playing into it, like say GPT, which has Gulfport, Biloxi and Harrison County all underneath it.
Last edited:
It has a good bit of commercial traffic now. It will always be a viable airport. If the leadership ever starts to affect safety, other people will step in.
No matter how bad Jackson sucks, the metro is still a population center, both business and governmental. Some of ya'll take the hate too far, I get it, it's fun to bash MS, but don't go farther than you need to.
