Congressman McHenry’s Statement on Opening of Hickory Airport
Congressman will attend Saturday evening’s event to celebrate the reopening of Hickory Regional Airport to commercial air service.
Washington,
Apr 29, 2005 -
Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) will attend Saturday evening’s reception celebrating the re-opening of Hickory Regional Airport’s commercial air service to the region. Flights to and from Hickory Regional ended in 2002, but Delta Airlines has agreed to begin service to Hickory starting on Saturday.
“The opening of the Hickory Regional Airport to commercial flights is crucial to economic development in Western North Carolina,” said Congressman McHenry, who commutes to and from Washington, DC through Charlotte Douglas International Airport. “Hickory has been without service since 2002, which has caused added hardship to a region already in need of jobs and further economic development. I applaud airport director Tim Deike and everyone working on the project for their hard work in getting the airport back up and running with commercial flights.”
Congressman McHenry wrote a letter to U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) assistant administrator Jim Blair on February 4th, 2005, urging the allocation of TSA's resources to assure the opening of Delta Airlines flights on May 1st. Last winter, it was questionable whether TSA would be able to properly fund security measures necessary to reopen the airport.
Legislation was passed after September 11th, 2001 mandating elevated security at America's international and regional airports, which resulted in increased costs to airlines and airports. Those additional costs, paired with the decrease in passengers after the 9/11 attacks, caused many carriers to suspend service to smaller airports, including Hickory Regional.
