New Fort Lauderdale flight could double traffic at Middle Georgia Regional Airport
The airport will offer flights on Spirit Airlines to Fort Lauderdale starting in October.
Middle Georgia Regional Airport will begin running flights to Fort Lauderdale through Spirit Airlines, providing a low-cost, local alternative to Hartsfield-Jackson.
Mayor Lester Miller, sporting a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses and cargo shorts, along with airport officials announced the new route at a press conference Thursday morning inside the airport’s terminal.
Spirit Airlines will begin running nonstop flights twice a week — starting at $49 one way — to Fort Lauderdale beginning in mid October. The airport already has 12 roundtrip flights per week to Washington D.C. and additional charter flights to Atlantic City and Mississippi.
The plane will be an Airbus A320, which has 176 seats and will be the largest passenger aircraft at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport.
Miller said Fort Lauderdale is one of the top destinations for Middle Georgia travelers.
“What I like about it is you can drive here to this airport, pay $8 a day instead of $30 a day (for parking) save a three-hour round trip and save 20 hours of driving to Fort Lauderdale on a round trip and get directly on the cruise ship if that’s what I wanna do,” he said.
Doug Faour, aviation director at Middle Georgia Regional Airport, said Spirit Airlines fills the need for an “affordable carrier” that goes to destinations that are popular within the community.
He said the airport currently sees 15,000 passengers every year, but hopes to bump that number up to 30,000 in the near future.
“We’re gonna continue to grow the airport to its max potential,” Faour said.
The new route comes months after the airport replaced flights to Baltimore with flights to Washington Dulles International Airport. Faour added that the new flights to D.C. and subsequent connecting flights can be booked through United Airlines.
“The people that use it are highly pleased with what we offer, it’s so much more convenient,” he said of the United flights. “It just takes a lot of stress for people traveling in the region.”
Faour also said demolition for the airport’s planned guitar shaped fixed base operator, which functions as a “gas station” for aircraft, is already underway, and is set to be completed in October 2026.
Faour said the new terminal is a “community project” because it will serve as the first impression for many aviators entering Macon.
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