Chattanooga’s Airline Summit
A testament to how destination organizations are transforming communities through strategic support and investment.
In partnership with the Chattanooga Tourism Co. and the Chamber of Commerce, Chattanooga Airport hosted a summit in October 2023 to re-market and re-sell itself to its current air carriers: United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Allegiant Air.
Our team met with April Cameron, President and CEO of the Chattanooga Airport to talk about the summit and the role of the Chattanooga Tourism Co. in its air service development efforts.
“The airline representatives were amazed,“ Cameron said of the summit. She said they repeatedly commented on local leaders’ community engagement.
The Chattanooga Tourism Co. took a big part in the summit discussing air service development from the tourism side and presenting key findings from a recent study on the Chattanooga Convention Center. The Chattanooga Tourism Co. discussed its plans to market the region in new destinations if new routes were to be added and the potential this would have for the airlines.
The delegation attended an outdoor evening meal at Rock City and toured the Volkswagen plant. Cameron said "Chattanooga is a unique destination and the Chattanooga Tourism Co. is in the best position to partner with us to promote the city to new destinations." She knew “if we could just get the airlines to come here, the city would sell itself, and it did.”
The summit also included a forum that allowed airline representatives and local CEOs to exchange questions and needs.
“It had to be informational, we wanted them to take away some important characteristics”, said Cameron.
One of the early wins of the Airline Summit is a new nonstop roundtrip flight to Las Vegas on Allegiant Air, announced in November 2023. Another recent expansion is the new nonstop flight to Denver thanks to the Chattanooga Airport being awarded the Small Community Air Service Development Program grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
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