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During the first part of 2024 the Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) saw 646,013 (January – June 2024) passengers through the terminal. In May alone, the airport saw 123,008 passengers – an increase of nearly 19,000 passengers over May of 2023 and exceeding the previously highest month in the history of the airport set back in 2019.

“We’re seeing a significant surge in passenger traffic through the airport this year and we couldn’t be happier to have such a lively and active terminal every day,” said President & CEO, Mike Gula. “Historically, we see a dip in passenger traffic at the start of the year with an uptick starting in late Q1. This year, it has been a consistent increase of travelers from January 1 to today.”

In 2019 CAE ended the year seeing roughly 1.3 million passengers through the airport – the highest traffic CAE had seen in 10 years. This year, CAE is currently on track to end the year at or just above its 2019 numbers.

By way of a month-to-month passenger traffic comparison:

• May of 2019 saw 122,099
• May of 2023 saw 104,267
• May of 2024 saw 123,008

Additional air service and route options also played a factor in the increased passenger traffic. In June, American Airlines restarted its nonstop seasonal service to Miami (with Saturday only service through August).

Re-establishing and surpassing pre-pandemic passenger traffic has been the main goal and priority for CAE.

With a focus on improving efficiencies and updating amenities from the garage to the airlines’ gates, as well as ensuring passengers’ experience in the terminal is smooth and easy, the end goal – and hope – of the CAE team is to encourage continued use and loyalty of our local airport by just that… locals.

The numbers are in and the Columbia Metropolitan Airport is excited to share that the airport welcomed 1,234,487 million passengers in 2023 – inching closer to the highest number of passengers in over a decade that was reached in 2019.

“Seeing a continuous increase of passenger traffic through the airport is going to be the ultimate indicator of the always forward, positive momentum we’re looking to maintain here at CAE,” said President & CEO, Mike Gula. “The number of individuals that choose to utilize our airport has a significant impact on our overall sustainability and future success.”

With a 16% increase over 2022’s passenger traffic, which saw 1,063,630 passengers, the noteworthy increase CAE saw in 2023 was due in part to the addition of numerous routes and service on both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Last summer, American Airlines (AA) added a nonstop route from CAE to Chicago – a first for AA in the Columbia market. Additionally, AA added a nonstop flight from CAE to New York City (LaGuardia) as well as brought back its seasonal service from CAE to Miami. Delta Air Lines added a second nonstop flight from CAE to New York City (LaGuardia) – offering a morning and evening option to passengers.

“Having options of routes, carriers and flight times is crucial to travelers when looking to book a flight,” said Vice President of Marketing & Air Service Development, Kim Jamieson Crafton. “These additional routes make a difference in the decision process and will impact a passenger’s choice to fly out of CAE or another airport. We are thankful for this additional service for the region and look forward to seeing more service added in 2024.”

To further accommodate and enhance travelers’ experience, CAE, in partnership with its concessionaires, updated a number of food, beverage and retail spaces throughout the airport.

Last year, Samuel Adam’s Columbia Brewhouse, Jimmy John’s and Dunkin’® were added to the food court, replacing some of the longtime establishments, making way for national brands. Opening this Monday, February 5^th is another dining option, The Friendly Caterer To-Go. This eatery will be one located in the main lobby pre-security.

For retail, a multi-phased effort started to renovate all three shops across the airport. The new locations, Three Rivers Collection, Vista Trading (now open) and Explore Columbia will all be completed by winter 2024. In the main lobby, Avanti Market vending machines were installed – offering grab-n-go snacks and travel essentials to passengers and the general public.

The important work on an airport master plan started in the summer of 2023 that will provide an introspective look at the airport’s current facilities, amenities, capacity and more to determine how it can better meet the needs of travelers for the next 20 years. More information about the CAE Airport Master Plan can be found on the airport’s website.

“We say it often because it’s that important,” said Gula. “We appreciate each and every person that chooses to fly out of this airport and ask everyone to always check CAE first and fly local when you can.” In all regards 2023 was another banner year for CAE that set the stage for another successful year in 2024. For more information on the Columbia Metropolitan Airport or to review the 2023 CAE Annual Report, please visit FlyCAE.com.

The Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) has begun work on a multi-year airport master plan project that will ultimately yield an introspective look at the airport’s current facilities, amenities and overall capacity to determine how it can better meet the needs of travelers for the next 20 years.

“Airport Master Plans provide a needed roadmap of sorts for future growth and development,” said President & CEO, Mike Gula. “From this plan, we will be able to determine a comprehensive properties list, coupled with realistic timelines to implement projects that will grow this airport over the next two decades.”

Guiding CAE through this rigorous process is engineering firm, Mead & Hunt, whose aviation planning division specializes in developing airport master plans. Mead & Hunt has led numerous master planning projects at airports of all sizes across the United States, working collaboratively with airport owners and their local communities.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be working with CAE to discover what opportunities are yet untapped for future growth and enhancement of the passenger experience,” said Mead & Hunt’s project manager, Stephanie Ward, AICP. “We can’t wait to see what rises to the top as we work together to uncover where CAE’s interests as well as what’s most important to the air travelers and the community intersect and how CAE will plan to grow for the future.”

As part of the full airport master plan team, Mead & Hunt partnered with local marketing, communications and strategy company, DESA. In December of 2023, DESA collected traveler data through in-person surveys for multiple days across the terminal.

Throughout the year, a number of in-terminal survey collections will occur to ensure a diverse spectrum of responses, as well as traveler demographics are reached and
considered. Additionally, community and online fact finding will continue throughout the airport master plan process.

With a needed focus on community and stakeholder involvement, CAE will also be forming an airport master plan advisory committee. This committee will be a collection of Midlands-based professionals, with diverse personal and professional backgrounds, that have a connection and need for strong air service.

CAE invites the community at large to play a role in this important conversation by completing an online survey found at FlyCAE.com.

From the homepage, click on “CAE Airport Master Plan” at the top of the page. Once there, scroll to the middle of the page and click on the link to complete the survey.

Survey results and general information will be periodically shared throughout the airport master plan process, with a larger presentation of results shared once completed.

The Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) is excited to announce the Midlands-based artists that have been selected to have their works featured in individual exhibits in 2024 – 2025.

Anthony Lewis, Brandi Roberts, Ozon Wilson and Brenda Peake will each be featured on a quarterly basis throughout the 2024 calendar year and into the first quarter of 2025.

“We are thrilled every year to have the response that we do from Midland’s artists interested in participating in this now coveted program,” said Kim Crafton, Vice President of Marketing and Air Service Development at CAE. “CAE’s Art in the Airport program, managed and run by Marketing Manager Samantha Kingsmore, allows for us to provide a warm welcome from the region to our passengers as they land in Columbia, SC. It creates an immediate sense of place, while also adding eye catching, one-of-a-kind art to the walls of the airport.”

Below are bios for each of the artists selected to participate in the 2024 – 2025 Art in the Airport program:

Anthony Lewis (March-May 2024)

Anthony Lewis is an abstract figurative painter and photographer. He graduated from the University of South Carolina, where he studied at the School of Visual Art and Design and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts, Studio Art with a concentration on painting. He likes the use of different techniques and mediums such as acrylic, oil, charcoal, mixed-media, assemblage, and black and white film photography. He merges small scale vintage black and white photographs and larger scale paintings of black people in his paintings to form a collage. In his work, he likes to explore the good the bad and the injustices around African-American experience in the United States such as, mass incarceration, black on black crime, police brutality, mental health, suicide, the beauty of being black and the everyday struggles of the black man, woman, and child dating back to the early 1900s throughout the great black migration, Harlem Renaissance and well up into the 70s.

Brandi Roberts (June-August 2024)

Brandi Roberts is a full-time artist and creator of Fantasy Floorplans – a career she “invented” based off drawing floorplans of fictional homes. She has a bachelor’s degree in interior design and drafts her art the “old-fashioned” way – with pen and paper. Her love of drawing, pop-culture, and television is what inspired her career. To date, she has created 100+ floorplans for fictional television homes (featuring everything from The Andy Griffith Show to Downton Abbey)  and has been featured on NBC’s The Today Show, in Family Circle magazine, on Entertainment Weekly’s website, in the National Post, and many more. When she’s not drawing a new floorplan, she enjoys watching television or “conducting research” as she calls it.

Ozon Wilson (September-October 2024)

Ozon Wilson – born and raised in Columbia, SC – is a self-taught avant-garde visual artist and photographer. He uses his artistic ability and imagination to create wildly imaginative surrealist art. This type of artwork allows him to create and explore boundaries or inhibitions, as his work is a combination of thoughts, experiences, imagination, and dreams. He refuses to conform to artistic norms, which he believes allows him uninhibited creative freedom.

Brenda Peake (December 2024 – February 2025)

Brenda Peake – also born and raised in Columbia, SC – is a painter, who primarily works with oils. Once a bakery owner alongside her mother, Brenda has since retired from the bakery and focuses on her true passion: painting. She initially started working with watercolors, but soon found herself drawn to oils and is fascinated by the way pigments react to each other, so she is constantly experimenting with new color combinations. She is a proud member of the American Impressionist Society and the Crooked Creek Art League.

For more information about CAE’s Art in the Airport program, to book a flight or to see all of the events and happenings taking place at CAE, please visit FlyCAE.com.

The Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) has added new software to its website, allowing passengers to book flights to anywhere in the world directly from FlyCAE.com. With FlyMyAirport™, passengers will be able to search for flights – domestic, international, nonstop, or connecting – on the airport’s website. Additionally, air travelers will be able to take advantage of flight, hotel, car, and travel package deals in the destinations of their choosing.

“In our marketing efforts we are constantly looking to drive the community and our passengers to our website for all airport and air service-related news and information,” said Kim Jamieson Crafton, Vice President of Marketing & Air Service Development. “With this new software, the FlyCAE.com website will become a one-stop-shop resource for all air travel needs through CAE.”

The search function, FlyMyAirport™, is a product of the parent company Airport One, LLC and is a widget that is embedded onto an airport’s website with search results powered by KAYAK™.

The clever feature of FlyMyAirport™– and something all passengers will notice – is that all searches begin… at CAE.

“We want to encourage our community to support local, by flying local,” said Crafton. “With the home location permanently on CAE, we’re reinforcing the importance of starting – and now booking – your trips from your hometown airport.”

To book your next trip, visit FlyCAE.com and type in a destination in the search feature on the home page. Or click on FlyMyAirport™ in the upper left corner of the FlyCAE.com navigation bar to explore all the available travel deals and destinations.

“We’re excited to welcome CAE to our growing list of airport partners,” said Keegan Coulter, Chief Operating Officer of Airport One, LLC. “FlyMyAirport™ is reshaping the way airports, like CAE, serve their communities, bringing enhanced customer service directly to their doorsteps and devices. It’s also the right conversation for airports to have with their community.”

About Airport One, LLC
Airport One, LLC is a company at the intersection of Marketing & Technology, specializing in efficiently growing airports. The company exists to help airports grow and their communities thrive.

Calling all professional artists! The Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) is now accepting submissions for the 2024 – 2025 Art in the Airport program.

Now in its fifth year, the wildly popular program showcases the artistic talents of four artists selected from across the Columbia region. Each artist will have the opportunity to display their work in the busiest part of the airport for roughly three months.

The Art in the Airport program not only enhances the passengers’ experience while traveling through CAE, but it also creates an immediate sense of place to those visiting Columbia, SC. Once a traveler lands at CAE, these pieces of art are the first creative and cultural touchpoints they see as a connection to the region.

Would you like your artwork to be considered for this prestigious program? Below are details on how an artist can submit artwork and the guidelines associated with the program.

Submission Requirements:

To apply for CAE’s Art in the Airport program, please email the following information to submissions@flycae.com by November 30, 2023 at 5 p.m.

• Name, address, phone, email, website (if applicable)
• Artist bio
• Artist statement
• At least five images representing the type of artwork anticipated to be on display.
• *Note: Artists must reside in one of the following Midlands counties: Calhoun, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda, Sumter, Lee, Clarendon, Newberry, and Aiken.

Selection Process:

Submissions will be reviewed by CAE’s selection committee. Artists selected for the rotating art exhibit will be notified December 15^th with a public announcement on December 19^th.

Exhibit Requirements:

The exhibition location will be in the connector of the terminal, the walkway between the security checkpoint and the departure/arrival gates. Selected exhibits must contain a minimum of twelve pieces as there are twelve wall columns in the location, six on each side of the walkway. (Multiple images/clustered pieces of work can be arranged on one column if desired/space allows).

CAE will provide labels for each piece in the exhibit to include artists’ name, contact information and the title, dimensions, type of medium and selling price of the piece. CAE will also provide signage for the exhibit to include the artist’s bio and/or statement.

Exhibitions must be physically suited to the space, allowing for uninterrupted traffic flow. If selected, artists agree to suitably frame, wire and install their artwork at their own expense. Artists must be willing to sign CAE’s Artwork Loan and Hold Harmless Agreement.

Selected artists are welcome to preview the exhibit location by contacting Samantha Kingsmore, Marketing Manager, at S.Kingsmore@flycae.com, as a staff escort is required to access the location.

Insurance:

Art displayed at CAE is insured by the Columbia Metropolitan Airport while on site; however, the transportation to and from the airport is not covered. Prior to installation, the selected artists will provide CAE with a description of the exhibit pieces to include the title and value of each piece.

Things to Know:

CAE does not charge artists to exhibit their work but will require a 5% commission on all pieces sold. This commission will be reinvested into the CAE Art in the Airport program – enhancing display opportunities and required signage. All art transactions must be conducted between CAE, the artist, and the purchaser.

Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) has started a multi-phased effort to revamp its food, beverage, and retail operations across the airport, with an estimated completion date for all concepts slated for the winter of 2024.

“Updating our food, beverage and retail locations throughout the airport has been a top priority for CAE,” said Mike Gula, CAE’s president and CEO. “We want to ensure our valued passengers not only have an easy travel experience while at CAE, but one that includes offerings from national brands, new and healthy dining options and expanded retail items that are quick and convenient.”

As part of the updates, Carolina Concessions, LLC, CAE’s contracted food and beverage concessionaire, recently opened Jimmy John’s and Samuel Adams Brewhouse Columbia in the former Carolina Subs and Riverbanks Bar & Grill locations.

Later this month, the current Sunrise Café will be converted into a Dunkin’® – serving the chain’s signature doughnuts, coffee and breakfast sandwiches.

The Friendly Caterer To-Go – a concept based on Carolina Concessions’ sister catering business The Friendly Caterer that specializes in to-go family meals – will be added in the main lobby pre security.

“We are so excited to be a part of the new growth at CAE,” said Sandra Sims, owner and operator of CAE’s food and beverage concessionaire, Carolina Concessions, LLC. “Our team is on board to help to make CAE’s travelers’ experience an easy and enjoyable one. We hope by bringing in national brands, travelers will find food options that will satisfy their taste buds. We have always put the quality of our food and service as the top focus for our company, and we will continue to do so with these new additions.”

Carolina Concessions, LLC also plans to roll out an in-terminal kiosks system and mobile app, allowing travelers the opportunity to pre-order menu items before going through security and pick-up on the way to their gates.

Sandra and Herbert Sims have been in the food industry for nearly 30 years and have been the primary food and beverage concessionaire at CAE for the last 16 years.

Paradies Lagardère, CAE’s contracted retail provider, will transform the current retail offerings, transitioning the Capital Marketplace to Vista Trading offering grab-n-go snacks and travel essentials. The Columbia Travelmart will become Explore Columbia and include a local marketplace concept with products from Midland’s area vendors. The Three Rivers Collection will be in the main lobby pre security and include a hybrid of travel essentials and branded “shop in shops” with Avanti Markets vending machines in the former PGA Tour Shops portion of the store.

“We are excited to unveil our new retail concepts at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport as each will further elevate the shopping options for travelers,” said Gregg Paradies, President and CEO of Paradies Lagardère. “We greatly appreciate our long-standing partnership with the airport and are excited to contribute to these new concessions program with locally influenced stores and products that will enhance the overall experience at CAE.”

“Airports continuously update and modernize their retail and dining offerings to stay current with passenger expectations,” said Kim J. Crafton, CAE’s vice president of marketing and air service development. “CAE is excited to move forward with this redevelopment and knows these new brands and concepts will appeal to today’s travelers.”

For more information about the updates taking place at CAE and for the latest news on when various locations have completed construction, please visit www.FlyCAE.com.

About Paradies Lagardère:
Paradies Lagardère is a leading airport travel retailer and restaurateur in North America, operating more than 700 stores and restaurants in 92 airports. Specializing in three airport concessions areas – Travel Essentials, Specialty Retail and Dining with expertise in international, national and local brands – Paradies Lagardère’s commitment to exceptional customer service, superior design and award-winning retail and restaurant operations has earned the company numerous accolades, including Best Airport Retailer for 26 consecutive years and Best Brand Restaurateur by Airport Experience News. For more information, please visit paradieslagardere.com.

About Carolina Concessions:
After working and training with Concessions International for five years, Herbert and Sandra Sims founded Carolina Concession, LLC in November of 2012. From there, the Columbia-based company began work to create various food and beverage concepts after being named the primary food and beverage concessionaire at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. These concepts included Sky Café and Bar, Riverbanks Bar and Grill, Sunrise Café, Carolina Subs and the Bar-B-Que Pitt. In the summer of 2023, Carolina Concessions, LLC opened Samuel Adams Columbia Brewhouse (replacing Riverbanks Bar and Grill), as well as Jimmy John’s (replacing Carolina Subs). Dunkin’® and the new concept, The Friendly Carter To-Go, based off the company’s primary catering company, are slated to open in October of 2023.

Carolina Concession, LLC also serves as the food and beverage concessionaire at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport, operating both a Riverbanks Bar & Grill and Sunrise Café that will soon become a Dunkin’ ® and Samuel Adams Jackson Brewhouse.

The Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) has partnered with University of South Carolina Athletics Department, to make the airport “The Official Airport of the Gamecocks.” The partnership, made through the university’s multimedia rightsholder LEARFIELD’s Gamecock Sports Properties, will be in place for the next three years.

“We are proud to call the Columbia Metropolitan Airport the Official Airport of the Gamecocks,” said Ray Tanner, University of South Carolina Athletics Director. “We appreciate their support as fans make their way to our campus for Gamecock sporting events.”

With state-of-the-art technology throughout the parking garage and terminal, CAE’s number one priority is making air travel as quick and efficient as possible for its passengers. Served by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, CAE gets travelers from around the world to Gamecock Country…with ease. Now offering more than 25 daily flights to 10 major airports in nine cities, getting to Columbia through CAE is now even easier.

“We couldn’t be more excited to work with Ray Tanner and the teams at the University of South Carolina,” said Mike Gula, president and CEO of CAE. “Gamecock Athletics and the entire university are a huge tourism driver in the Midlands, and we look forward to continuing to serve fans from all over the country as they make their way to Columbia for game day.”

About South Carolina Athletics

The University of South Carolina (USC), located in the capital city of Columbia, was established in 1801 and is a full-service, state-supported research university that includes the 358-acre Columbia campus and seven regional campuses with a total full-time student body population of more than 46,000 and 2,100 full-time faculty members. USC’s athletic teams have been known as the Gamecocks for more than 100 years.  More than 530 student-athletes participate in one of USC’s 21 intercollegiate athletic programs, which includes nine men’s and 12 women’s sports.  Since 2015-16, South Carolina’s athletics department has averaged a Top 30 finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup All-Sports Standings, measuring an athletics department’s overall success.  For more information, visit www.GamecocksOnline.com or connect with USC at www.facebook.com/GamecocksOnline or www.twitter.com/GamecocksOnline.

ABOUT LEARFIELD

LEARFIELD is the media and technology company powering intercollegiate athletics. The company unlocks the value of college sports for brands and fans through an omnichannel platform with innovative content and commerce solutions. LEARFIELD services include trademark licensing and branding; collegiate sports properties’ multimedia sponsorship management; NIL solutions; publishing, audio, digital and social media; data analytics and insights; ticketing software; and ticket sales, premium seating, and fundraising services; campus-wide business and sponsorship development. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for NACDA’s acclaimed LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup, recognizing athletic departments across all divisions.