The little airport that could...

A story in this past Sunday's News & Record touts the continual turnaround over at the little airport that could...PTI.

I'll give this to you...Piedmont Triad Intl. is a very nice airport, it is convenient and security lines are almost non-existent.

But what will save PTI is not FedEx alone, not HondaJet, not TIMCO, not GTCC, not Cessna...it will be more passenger flights and more passenger service. A little less courting of airlines that are one-step-shy of going bankrupt (a la SkyBus), and more courting of airlines that easily recognize the ease and convenience of getting in and out quickly.

But airport authority chairman Henry Isaacson slightly misses the point in the article (and Dan Lynch for that matter):

Isaacson continues to push for better passenger service after the failure of Skybus. It has always been tough to make the case for airline expansion to PTI because of the region's position between the bigger and busier urban airports in Charlotte and the Triangle.

That tough sell has become even tougher with the bad economy.

It's a continual tough sell because our area is becoming more and more depressed, with so many people out of work. Before we start recruiting airlines, we need to be recruiting companies.

It's a domino effect. I get it. They don't. We all suffer because of it.

E.C. :)