By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – After roughly two years in the making, daily flights between Safford and Phoenix became closer to reality recently with the awarding of federal grant funding.
The city of Safford announced it has been awarded an $800,000 grant under the Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) to bring airline service to Safford at Safford Regional Airport – 1LT Duane Spalsbury Field.
The U.S. Department of Transportation oversees the grant and says SCASDP is designed to help small communities address air service and airfare issues.
The announcement advised the grant will “enable the city to contract with a small airline to provide daily flights between Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Safford.”
According to Safford Airport Manager Cameron Atkins, the city is working toward a contract with an airline and hopes to be able to release an update soon. However, at this time no additional information, including potential cost, type of airplane, or a timeline for operation, is available since no potential contract or provider has been released.
