Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport focused on flying forward after government reopened

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - There’s no word if any TSA agents at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport will receive a $10,000 bonus, but all are back to work, getting operations back to 100%.

The future of the airport is the focus now, with next steps planned for its master plan. The airport prepared its last Master Plan in 1983.

Despite the government shutdown, the airport’s operations had been steady with a handful of cancellations. The airport’s Senior Director of Marketing & Air Service Development, Lori Lynah, said thankfully, the FAA did not end up canceling 10% of flights at 40 of the busiest airports on Friday.

“But even so, we had between two and six about every day, so it wasn’t terrible, but we’ll be glad when that process is done, of course.”

Commission leaders at their meeting on Friday morning also talked about the next step in their Master Plan process, which predicts nearly 1.7 million passengers will fly out of the airport each year by 2035.

They’ll hold meetings with airport partners, including Gulfstream. The public will also get to weigh in at another meeting in downtown Savannah, but there’s no date set for that yet.

The commission also went over next year’s budget, which was not affected by the government shutdown, according to Lynah.