COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) is excited about its flight path.

After several difficult years due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, CAE officials said they are now recovering and aiming to exceed pre-pandemic passenger volumes.

“2024 has been a great year for us,” said Mike Gula, president and CEO of CAE. “We’re only halfway through, but we’ve already seen nearly 650,000 passengers come through the terminal.”

According to a press release on the increase in passenger traffic, the airport is on track to meet or exceed 2019’s 1.3 million passengers, which was the highest passenger traffic in 10 years.

“It could even be the best year in the airport’s history,” Gula said.

Airport officials attribute this increase in passenger traffic to several factors: improvements in food and retail offerings, customer service and convenience.

“Unlike Charlotte-Douglas, our airport offers an all-around good customer experience: it is fast, convenient and beautiful,” said Gula.

“Look at where you want to go,” said Kim Crafton, vice president of marketing and flight service development at CAE. “From here, we’ll get you there.”

The airport also believes that this increase in traveller numbers is partly due to the growth of the entire Midlands region, particularly with more young people coming to the region.

“The Midlands region as a whole is growing rapidly,” Crafton said. “And people are starting to understand that … the money for the fuel, the time to drive to Charlotte, that’s what drives that. If you check us out first, you might find that we’re actually cheaper.”

“I don’t think the younger generation cares so much about the price of their ticket,” Gula said. “They care about their time and convenience.”

CAE is taking advantage of the momentum of increased traffic and wants to focus on the wishes of passengers that they expressed in community surveys: more destinations and low-cost airlines.

According to CAE’s 2023 Annual Report, the airport has been offering a new nonstop service to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) by American Airlines since July, as well as a nonstop flight by Delta to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City.

In June, American Airlines also added seasonal service to Miami International Airport (MIA), a service that operates throughout the summer for locals looking to vacation in Florida.

“Miami was a huge success even before the pandemic,” Gula said. “When the cruise lines and other things start to reopen, I think we’ll be a premier airport and a premier destination for American Airlines. We’re constantly working on those airlines.”

Gula said they try to keep the airport’s facilities in good condition and keep their costs down to attract airlines to partner with CAE. Some of these upgrades include a new inline baggage system and a shared system that allows airlines to share space in the terminal.

“We are trying to make this airport as user-friendly as possible so that any airline can fly into it,” Crafton explained.

But CAE can only maintain a limited number of routes. The more passengers use these routes, the more incentive airlines will have to work with the airport.

“The community has to be the driving force to keep them here,” Crafton said.

CAE cites its community partnerships as critical to maintaining the airport and adhering to its mission of providing local flights. Fort Jackson and the University of South Carolina in particular have been supportive partners.

“If you come here on a Friday, there are soldiers everywhere, heading to their next deployment,” Gula said. “Before the pandemic, the breakdown was 70% business, 20% military, 10% recreational. When the pandemic hit, everything was completely different. Fort Jackson definitely helped us through that process, through the pandemic.”

“We have partnered with the university to be the official airport of the Gamecocks,” Crafton noted. “We support them, they support us, and we are very grateful for that. We get a lot of positive comments from parents who can get here quickly to visit their college students.”

As for what’s next at the airport, officials said they’re focused on further improvements and expansion, including a renovation that will expand security screening from two to four lanes and the creation of a business lounge that will offer indoor and outdoor seating and food and beverages.

Gula also talked about a major future expansion that the airport is considering.

“We are in the process of building a hotel on the property,” he said. “That would be a great asset for business travelers who only want to stay a few days and don’t want to spend two days downtown.”

“There’s a lot of momentum going on here,” Crafton noted. “There’s a lot going on.”

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