Plans are under way to update the name of the Jackson mayor on the sign at the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport that visitors pass by when they enter the airport property.
“We reached out last week as soon as the election was final,” said Rosa Beckett, chief executive officer of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority.
“We’ve contacted the sign company and asked them for a quote.”
The word ‘mayor’ will remain in place on the sign. Individual letters from Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s name that are in the name of incoming Jackson Mayor John Horhn will be re-used and new letters needed to complete Horhn’s name will be purchased and added to the sign.
Horhn will become mayor of Jackson on July 1, but the sign change is not expected to be done by then, Beckett said.
“We’ve asked the company for a cost estimate and projected timeline for when they can install it,” she said.
Josh Harkins, a Republican senator who represents District 20, looks forward to seeing Horhn’s name on the sign, even though he and Horhn disagree over the governance of the airport.
“I’m excited for new leadership,” he said. “I have high hopes for Sen. Mayor Horhn.”
Harkins was among authors of Senate Bill 2162, which amended the Mississippi Code to do away with the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority and replace it with a regional board known as the Jackson Metropolitan Area Airport Authority.
Phil Bryant, who was governor at the time, signed the bill into law in 2016. The law would give control to a new board of nine people with two appointments by the governor.
Harkins still believes in the bill, saying that members of the board of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority need to have credentials to equip them for the work the board does.
Horhn has vowed to continue the court fight to keep the airport under the control of the city.
In May, a federal judge ruled that the city of Jackson can continue to pursue the case.
Federal Judge Carlton Reeves denied the state of Mississippi’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the state’s efforts to take over the largest airport in Mississippi.
“JMAA might in fact continue to operate the airport for years to come. That is because after the case wraps up here, there will likely be another appeal to the Fifth Circuit and perhaps a petition for U.S. Supreme Court review. And if all that litigation ends with a victory for the defendants, there will be an administrative process in Washington, D.C., in which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decides whether to approve a transfer from JMAA to the new, state-controlled authority... For now, though, the status quo has been maintained,” said U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves in his opinion.
The case will proceed through the normal channels of legal discovery before a trial.
Drew Martin, city attorney for the city of Jackson, said the Jackson City Council during its June 3 meeting, that the city will “move forward with a lawsuit.”
Beckett said during the last two years progress has been made at the airport and work continues to move the airport in a positive direction.
A project to replace the five elevators that are 60 years old and date to when the airport was new has started, she said. The first elevator, which is in the administrative area and used by anyone who has a badge to get onto the airport property, was taken offline on June 10.
“We will get that one operational and go on to the next one,” she said, explaining that the second elevator to be replaced is the one that leads to their air traffic control tower.
The replacement of the elevators should be completed by mid-spring 2026.
Replacement of the west bank of escalators is set to begin on July 21, Beckett said. Both sets of escalators, which like the elevators are 60 years old and date to when the airport was new, are set to be replaced by late fall 2025.
The cost to replace the four escalators and five elevators is $5.3 million.
Helping foot the bill is $8 million from the U.S. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Airport Terminals Program, which provides competitive grants for airport terminal development projects that address the aging infrastructure of the nation’s airports.
A temporary chiller, which is so large it arrived on an 18-wheeler, was put into service on June 4 to cool the terminal while the old chiller is dismantled, Beckett said.
“The new chiller is expected to arrive by July 11, and we’ll start the process of installing it,” she said.
The chiller project is expected to be completed by fall 2026. The cost of replacing the chiller and air handler, both of which are part of the HVAC system, is $9.5 million. Some funding for the project is from the grant the airport authority received and the rest from the authority funds.
Also getting started in June is a $2 million project to renovate the airport’s oldest restrooms, some of which are in the baggage claim area and one of which is coming out of the west concourse, Beckett said.
About 1.3 million passengers come through in and out of the terminal and that puts wear and tear on the facilities, she said.
