TEXARKANA -- For the first time in more then 12 years, the Texarkana Regional Airport will have a second passenger airline offering flights.
The Texarkana Regional Airport Authority Board agreed Thursday to approve an air service agreement with United Airlines. This will allow United to offer one flight per day from Texarkana to Houston, starting Feb. 13.
Texarkana Regional Airport Executive Director Paul Mehrlich told board members that United will do this for a one-year trial period to see if it gets enough business -- and if so, the airline would continue the flight.
American Airlines still offers flights each day to Dallas.
For Texarkana Regional Airport, this will be the second time a second airline will be attempting to offer commercial flights to Houston. In 2008, Continental Airlines offered commercial passenger flights there.
Houston has a population of nearly 2.5 million people. It is the fourth-most-populous city in the country, and the largest city in Texas and the South.
A daily flight to George Bush International Airport would connect Texarkana to 135 destinations with a single stop, including six domestic routes and 13 international routes not previously served, Mehrlich said when this possibility was announced in late July.
Then, United Airlines' intention was to offer twice-daily service on a Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet-200 aircraft, flown by the United Express partner SkyWest Airlines, officials say. That has been scaled down to one daily flight.
The projected air time between Texarkana and Houston is 43-47 minutes. The plane can hold about 50 passengers.
Currently, the airport has three flights per day to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Those flights take about 35 minutes.
This summer, the airport received the offer 0f $884,722 in grant funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Small Community Air Service Development Program that makes starting this new route possible.
The new passenger terminal being built at the airport is large enough to support this expansion, officials say.