By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Restoration of commercial air service at the city’s airport remains “a very favorable possibility” in 2025, the city’s top administrator recently told members of the Del Rio Economic Development Corporation (EDC) board.
Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez made his comments during an update on air service to the EDC board at its regular meeting June 26, telling the board he had also provided an update to Del Rio City Council members.
Chavez said, “Working with our consultants from Volaire, there is a very favorable possibility of restoring air service here in 2025. What I’ve been told is that even if we were to have an agreement with an air service today, it takes six months to plan out schedules, so with that being said, Volaire is very engaged with airline service, and we are in the process of gathering data from some of the main agencies that use airline service, and that data will definitely help make that decision much clearer for the airline service, but that would depend how early in 2025 we’ll have restoration.
“As of right now, they’re continuing to work on our behalf, and as I mentioned, it does look favorable,” Chavez said.
Ken Smith, EDC board chairman, responded, “Very nice. That’s exciting stuff.”
EDC Director Jorge Ramon asked Chavez if the contract with Volaire has been extended, and Chavez replied that it had been.
“Up until the point (commercial air service) is restored or the end of February (2025),” Chavez replied.
Smith then asked a follow-up question about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) services at the airport.
“Is that already secured, or do you have to get in there and set that up as well?” Smith asked.
Chavez replied, “For the moment, they (TSA) have been aware. They haven’t moved anything out, so that kind of means that they are still sticking around. We don’t have anything official, but they have been made aware that the search is continuing, so as of right now, they’re staying, so it seems like we’re going to get that opportunity for them to continue to stay here until we have some (air) service.”
“So they didn’t move any equipment out, they still have it there at the (airport terminal) building?” Smith asked.
“Correct,” Chavez said.
“Outstanding. Great,” Smith said.
Ramon told the EDC board he and Chavez had also spoken about an airline based in Mexico.
“(The Mexico airline officials) will also be sending a letter to our city, to our mayor, our city manager and our airport director. They just started authorization to fly to the United States and back to Mexico. They’re flying from Corpus Christi to Monterey, Laredo to Monterey and the (Rio Grande) Valley to Monterey, so they want to see if they can fly Del Rio to Monterey as well, and they use TSA, so that will help TSA stay at the airport. Hopefully, we’ll get both,” Ramon said.
When Smith asked the EDC board if there were any further questions about the airport and the city’s ongoing efforts to restore commercial air service, Ramon spoke about air cargo options at the facility.
Ramon said he has spoken with local Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials here about the possibility of stationing Customs officers at the airport during the times when the cargo flights arrive, which he said would be mostly during overnight hours.
Smith asked how that process could be helped along.
Ramon said he would investigate further and report back to the board.
“It would be nice to know how we can motivate that, if that’s the throttle point, trying to figure out how to get support in there at 2 o’clock in the morning,” Smith said.
Smith asked Ramon if the air cargo company had indicated what “night hours” meant to them, and Ramon replied, “Between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.”
“So that’s their preferred traffic?” Smith asked.
“Yes,” Ramon said, adding, “And as I’ve mentioned, Laredo can’t handle any more air cargo. El Paso’s having issues with their cargo, so that leaves Del Rio in a very good position to receive it.”
“And they’ve indicated what growth potential that could be?” Smith asked.
“About 10 or 12 (flights) per month, depending on the hours of operation, and at night-time, they can come in with bigger airplanes,” Ramon said.
“Great stuff. That’s worth pursuing in a big way,” Smith said.
The board took no formal action following Chavez’s and Ramon’s updates.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
