Moore County Airport talks goals, challenges and commercial flight services

Moore County Economic Developer Partnership (MCEDP) President Natalie Hawkins introduced speakers at the Moore County Airport April 22 meeting held inside a hangar.

The minimum revenue guarantee for the commercial air flight service is $3 million, and they have raised $1.7 million in pledges.

Federal grants are used before private pledges.

Adam Kiker, a pilot and member of MCEDP, and Jack Penning, an airport advisor, and Moore County Airport Director Rick Cloutier (as pictured) discussed the airport’s goals and challenges.

Cloutier began with one commercial flight in Concord, and it now has two. When he was in Ohio, commercial flights increased from three to 17.

Cloutier said they have a broad range of knowledge to support the airport. No funds come from the county. The airport is largely self-sufficient.

The airport has 150 airplanes based at the airport which have $120 million in tax revenue.The airport has 70 individual hangars and over 100 names on a hangar wait-list.

“We have 35 million in our capital improvement plan,” Cloutier said.

They want to rehabilitate ramps, add hangars and build a 16k square foot terminal. The existing terminal would be used for commercial service.

Kiker said the airport serves the tourist community which adds to the county’s sales tax revenue base.

Having transport for medical patients into First Health Hospital with commercial flights would make the airport a lifesaving business.

“There is a facility challenge,” Kiker said about finding matching funds for federal and state grants.

The Fly Local campaign launched in March and needs to raise $3 million in minimum guarantee (MRG) funds to gain the county commissioners’ approval. MRG is the minimum revenue over a specific time period, which is two years for the Moore County Airport, while the airline builds a customer base for the new market. It is not a profit guarantee.

County commissioners do not unanimously agree on public funds supporting a for-profit business, even though the economic study showed that 365 commercial flights would generate $16 million annually for the community.

The county’s low .29 cent tax rate is the reason for Moore County’s ability to thrive on tax dollars generated by the tourism industry and “live cheap,” according to Senator Tom McInnis in March.

Commercial flight cost are expected to be comparable to Raleigh’s costs.

A one-way flight may cost $150, which is comparable to Raleigh-Durham with costs from $100 to $200, depending on how far in advance the flight is booked.

Penning said ticket data shows the commercial service only needs 8 percent of local citizens’ flights to justify adding commercial flights to Washington, D.C. This percentage is based on data from ticket ZIP codes showing 613 citizens fly with RDU daily.

Hawkins said that because the Fayetteville Airport does not fly to Washington, D.C., Moore hoped to pick up that market.

Over 20 years ago, the county had commercial flights, and long layovers “contributed to the failure of commercial air service,” according to Moore County Airport officials.

Minimal upgrades are required for ticketing, security and baggage handling. Federal and state sources, the FFA and the Airway Trust Fund set up in 1980, help airports with improvements.

The existing 6,500-foot runway would not need expansion.

One more flight will not impact noise levels considering they have about 15 jets serving customers daily.

The planned commercial air flights include 113 major cities.

Lin Hutaff’s Pinehurst Realty Group provided refreshments.

April 22, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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