LAKELAND, Fla. — Commercial flights to Polk County have been on Lakeland Linder Regional Airport's wish list for years, and officials there think it may happen soon.
- Lakeland Linder airport wants to bring back commercial flights
- 1st floor of airport has sat vacant since Direct Air left in 2012
- Airport officials want Lakeland-based Publix to support them in push
Airport Director Gene Conrad said there’s an estimated 4,000 air passengers a day coming to Polk County and 4,000 a day leaving the county.
“That’s a lot of people. Just from the 33813 ZIP code, which is south Lakeland, there’s almost 150,000 round-trip tickets a year that are purchased from that ZIP code,” Conrad said.
The first floor of the airport’s terminal has been sitting vacant since Direct Air left in 2012.
Lakeland resident Jack Kempster said he’d fly out of Lakeland if it had commercial flights.
“I think it’d be wonderful. Right now, if I have to travel anywhere, whether it’s vacation or anything else, I have to go to Orlando or Tampa," Kempster said.
Although aviation companies are flocking to the airport, Conrad said he hasn’t had as much luck with commercial airliners.
“This is something we’ve been working on for years and years and years,” Conrad said.
Now, he’s reinvigorating his push.
“I’d say to people today we’re one day closer. It’s really going to take our community pushing and our county pushing collectively to make his happen,” Conrad said.
Conrad is meeting with Publix’s CEO soon. He’s hoping the company, headquartered in Lakeland and one of the largest employers in the state, will help join the push for commercial air service in Lakeland.
Even though Tampa and Orlando International airports are close by, Conrad said the drive there is getting more challenging.
“Our business community needs to be able to get in and out. We shouldn’t be forced to drive an hour to Tampa,” Conrad said.
“If I leave at 4:30 in the morning, it’s not an hour drive to Tampa, but on most days, it’s an hour to drive to Tampa and over an hour to drive to Orlando International Airport, and I-4 only gets worse every single day," he said.
“At times, it’s a bit of an inconvenience, because on I-4, you can never tell when the traffic is going to be good or bad,” Kempster said.
Conrad said he’s hoping that at least one commercial airliner will commit to providing just a few flights a day.
“We’re just looking for some level of service. From Delta for example, three or four flights a day to Atlanta. Or American, three or four flights to Charlotte. Or one flight a day from JetBlue to New York, because New York is our No. 1 market,” Conrad said.
The runway and everything else is ready to go, Conrad said. He would have to give the Transportation Security Administration 90 to 120 days' notice so they could get security personnel in place.