Columbia Regional Airport’s (COU) financial losses will be about $3.2 million this fiscal year, which ends on September 30.
939 the Eagle’s Mike Murphy, who publishes Comobuz, says that’s about $1.3 million more than last year. Murphy is reporting that the increasing cost of salaries and wages is being blamed. COU has ten full-time city employees. About 9,300 passengers boarded a plane in July. That’s just a few less than in May, the busiest month at COU since the pandemic.
Columbia Regional Airport’s $23-million new terminal opened in October 2022, and airport manager Michael Parks has been working regularly to try to add daily flights to Charlotte. Murphy reports COU also has a healthy reserve fund balance of about $5-million. That was boosted by about $8-million in federal CARES Act funding distributed during the pandemic.
