President Lynn King welcomed all to the meeting, remarking what a great crowd we had.
Kevin Courtney offered the prayer and led the Pledge to the flag
Announcements:
Lynn announced that former member Maxine who moved to Asheville NC has joined a Rotary Club there.
ROCS - Rotarians Offering Community Service will be held on Saturday March 6 and if you have not as yet signed up, you can do so at https://signup.com/go/vymddcq If you tried to sign up previously and all slots were taken, check back again as some new slots were open. There are also other projects to sign up for.
Board meeting was held Tuesday February 23
Rise Against Hunger project has been pushed out to September 25. More details will follow.
The Scholarship application has been updated and is available. The deadline has been extended to May 31 for response.
Corey Malphrus is working on another High School Cleanup, watch for date and opportunity to participate.
Suzi Oliver, Sergeant at Arms, Collected Happy $$.
Speaker:
Speaker for this meeting was Jon Rembold, Beaufort County Airports Director. He was introduced by Suzi Oliver.
photo credit - Barry Davis
Jon resides on Lady's Island, father of four children, and is very active in the community and his church. He is a former Rotarian of twelve years, however had to leave because of the demands of the airport job. His wife is an Assistant Principal. Jon presented an update on the HHI Airport. The entrance has been redone with major renovations continuing. He pointed out that not many airport offer the community the ease of use and close proximity that the HHI Airport does. July 5, 2018 the airport welcomed the first regional jet service. Since these jets have come into use, the numbers of travelers has doubled. They are very reliable with no cancellations. After American came, United joined and will be back in May. Daily service to Laguardia is resuming in March. The ramp area is going to be expanded and then the terminal. It all started with one airline and a connection to Charlotte, NC. American has brought flights to Regan National and last year flights to Dallas Ft. Worth, Philly, were added - which will be kicking back up in March. In April and May they will be doing a trial to Boston. The terminal construction will take a couple years as they renovate what is there then expand. The design has grown since the project has started. The building size has increased by 15 - 16% and is going to be triple the current size. It will have a "Country Club" look. The Savannah Airport is the nearest competitor, but work together. The airport is applying for a small community airport development grant. Covid has made airline scheduling difficult. Parking at the airport will be increased including covered parking and extra spaces for car rentals which is a big business. Because of Covid, every 90 days the airport goes through a complete sanitation procedure. It has been done three times so far. The airport is clean, air planes clean, and air recycled. Science has shown air travel is safe. In the new airport there will be an area for local art and culture to be displayed. As far as travel numbers, while the industry took a hit when locked down, it has been recovering ever since. and locally we are better than the national average for recovery. Private plane traffic has been very heavy and General Aviation has been busy. People with the ability to travel via private air craft have been using that option often.