Officials with the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport could soon have a better outlook on what they hope the airport will look like in the next 30 years.
The Jackson Municipal Airport Authority (JMAA) is about to wrap up work on its long-range master plan. The document will map out the long and short-term visions for Jackson-Evers based on projected future use.
“We are very close to having a draft done. It’s not quite ready yet, but we’re close to having it done,” said JMAA Chief Executive Officer Carl Newman. “We have a national (consultant) that is putting (it) together. We’ve been working with the organization for a while on that.”
National firm RS&H was brought on prior to Newman’s arrival in 2015. However, the plan was pushed off to the side for a while, only to be put on the fast-track to completion in recent months.
“The plan actually got started before I got here. We have really tried to accelerate it and close it out in the last year or so.
“It normally takes less time than this. It was sort of languishing out there. (The plan) got my attention and we started focusing attention to it,” Newman said.
The master plan will focus on short-term and long-term needs for Jackson-Evers, including projects that the authority already has in the works.
“We have three or four significant things we’re looking to do at the airport over the next several years. The first is we’re going to be looking to consolidate the rental car facility (and) building a new terminal concourse,” he said.
Both projects are needed in large part to increase convenience for patrons and airport employees.
A new rental car facility, for instance, “does several things for us. (Right now) all rental car operations are split. The make ready facilities are located away from the terminal. You have to go to one location in the terminal to conduct a transaction, then you go across the street into the garage to pick the car up,” he said.
Six car rental services work out of Jackson-Evers: Budget, Avis, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Alamo Rent A Car, Hertz and Payless Car Rental.
With the new facility all functions will be located in a new, centralized location. “It will be more efficient for our firms and for our passengers,” Newman explained. “They’ll have one place to go and they’re out of here.”
Another short-term plan includes building a new terminal concourse. The concourse will replace the airport’s east and west concourses with a single, centrally located one.
The new concourse will allow patrons access to all food and beverage vendors in the secure area, as well as allow Jackson-Evers to fully implement a pre-check line for those who have qualified for the Transportation Security Administration’s pre-check program.
The pre-check program allows those who qualify to go through an expedited check in process before entering the airport’s secure area.
“We have ‘pre-check light.’ There is no separate pre-check lane. Our customers that have pre-check can leave their jacket and shoes on, but still have to take a lot of stuff out of their bags,” he said. “This centralized lane, when we build the concourse, will alleviate that issue.”
There is no timeframe for when these projects get under way, but Newman would like to see them in place in the next “several years.”
JMAA is also focusing on new commercial development on airport property.
Pending JMAA board approval, in the next six to eight months, the authority hopes to issue a request for proposals to build a hotel on airport land.
The developer could choose between two locations, a site along International Boulevard, or along the East Metro Parkway corridor near Lakeland Drive.
Newman said the size of the hotel and the developer chosen would be determined during the procurement process.
Costs for the new terminal concourse and car rental facility have yet to be determined.
