RAPID TAKEOFF: A DISCOUNT AIRLINE'S BET ON A SUBURBAN CHARLOTTE AIRPORT COULD PAY OFF HANDSOMELY FOR CONCORD, PENDING A RETURN TO AIR TRAFFIC NORMALCY.

• Author: Martin, Edward

The pilot throttles back the small Cessna 172 and the altimeter slowly dips. Eighteen hundred feet below lies a wooded swath of southern Cabarrus County that from the ground seems like nothing but highways, the parking lots of the Concord Mills mall and big-box stores. The thrumming in the headsets that link the pilot and his passenger softens as the plane's speed gradually drops until cars on Interstate 85 over his right shoulder seem to be passing. He lands with a bump and taxis to a hangar.

Close behind, an Allegiant Airbus A320 with orange sunbursts on its fuselage lines up on the runway. Passengers barely notice the scrunch of the Cessna's tires as it touches down.

The Cessna and Airbus underscore the rise of 25-year-old Concord-Padgett Regional Airport from barnstorming links to modern jet airport, and one of North Carolina's busiest--at least before the COVID-19 crisis slammed the airline industry.

Concord says it ranked sixth in the state in enplanements in 2019, with more than 81,400 landings and takeoffs. The N.C. Department of Transportation ranks it ninth in passengers but sixth in annual economic impact. "You might say we were the perfect opportunity for aviation and local governments to collaborate with what will best work for all parties," says airport Aviation Director Dirk Vanderleest. "Charlotte Douglas [International Airport] was an increasingly busy hub that didn't want to tie up its arrival and departure gateways, and Cabarrus County and Concord were looking to having a general-aviation airport."

Concord-Padgett's transition from a mere reliever for Charlotte Douglas, which topped 50 million passengers in 2019, was cemented in January. That's when Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel announced plans for a $50 million base that would create more than 60 jobs and house two Airbus A320s. Because of the pandemic, construction is being delayed until 2021. Meanwhile, federal officials in April approved $2.1 million in aid for the airport to help cover losses incurred due to the public health crisis.

Once the economy recovers, Allegiant says it still plans a 5,000-square-foot maintenance building and other offices. The expansion will supplement the seven nonstop flights from Concord to Florida and New Orleans that operated before the pandemic forced schedule reductions. "Their business model requires attendants and crews to be home at the end of the day, with eight hours flying maximum," Vanderleest says. "They'll have two...