On Friday, May 31st, 2013 the Shasta EDC’s office was buzzing. Several area business and leadership people came to hear Rod Dinger, the Redding Municipal Airport manager, discuss where we are at in the drone test site selection and also getting more
flights in and out of Redding. While no decisions have been made to date on either, he was candid with the 19 in attendance what goes into the decision making process.
Only six locations will be chosen around the USA for drone test site selection. There are many more locations vying for those 6 spots. Whether Redding is selected or not, drone testing will happen. The thinking is, given the opportunity,
it would be great to be great to be part of developing policies and procedures regarding drones rather than having other communities do it for us. More high paying jobs stand to be created if the Redding area were to be chosen.
Mr. Dinger also assured us we are in ongoing talks with several airlines to attract more flights in and out of Redding and there are some ideas in the works to help make it happen. What we learned for sure, if we didn’t know already, is that
many areas our size across the country are vying for expanded air service just as we are. The powers that be in our area will keep working on the airlines until we get the job done. Stay tuned.