For your average, run-of-the-mill, airline passenger it could well rank right up there with a ticker tape parade down Wall Street. New Yorkers and anybody else arriving at South Bend International Airport on last night's United Airlines flight likely either wondered what was going on, or felt a little taller in the saddle thanks to the dramatic water cannon salute that greeted them at SBN.
Air field fire personnel situated firetrucks on opposite sides of the taxi-way and launched high arcing sprays over the top of the fuselage of the United Airlines jet arriving from New York/Newark Liberty International Airport to commemorate a second daily United flight each day.
Mike Daigle is Executive Director at South Bend International. He say, "Additional air service is always worth celebrating." He adds, "Being a passenger on a flight with a water cannon salute is a special and memorable experience. We thank everyone who chooses to fly South Bend."
The new twice daily flights are, for now, seasonal in nature and will continue until December 15th with United leaving Newark at 2:45pm for a 4:52 arrival in South Bend, and then departing SBN at 5:25pm for an approximate 7:20pm arrival back in the vicinity of the Big Apple. The other daily departs SBN at 6:35am and returns nightly at 10:15pm.
Today was also a special day at South Bend International as a ribbon cutting ceremony took place marking completion of the new general aviation public ramp at the airport. That $1.5-million public ramp project on the airport's north side was funded through a partnership between the City of South Bend and South Bend International. As of today, that partnership has created 14 jobs at the airport's newest fixed base operator, Corporate Wings. Additional economic impact was generated throughout the construction process by Rieth-Riley Construction Company.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and other dignitaries participated in the ribbon cutting with a ribbon strung between the noses of two aircraft parked on the ramp.
Abe Marcus is President of the St. Joseph County Airport Authority Board. He says his board is "excited that the City of South Bend and Redevelopment Commission worked to bring additional jobs to our region." He adds, "We would like to also thank the contractors from Rieth-Riley and engineers from Mead & Hunt who executed the completion of this project."
