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St. George • The first commercial jet took off from the new St. George Municipal Airport on Wednesday, carrying 50 dignitaries and the hopes and economic dreams of the region.
"Whoop-dee-do, it's finally true," the southern Utah city's jubilant Mayor Dan McArthur declared to several thousand people who turned out for the opening of the new $159 million facility.
It is hoped the airport, built on a 1,200-acre site, will bring more than $100 million to the region in the next decade.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, the second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave the dedicatory prayer, in which he reminded those attending that airports are where many of life's journeys "begin and end."
Gary Esplin, the city manager, called the creation of the airport from raw land a great example of vision of the "never give up" spirit.
City officials have worked for more than two decades to bring the facility to a reality.
Esplin said the new airport means aircraft no longer have to "land on an [aircraft carrier] where there is no ocean."
He was describing the former airport atop a bluff on the west side of the city. The old airport lacked space to expand and did not have modern navigation electronics, and tricky crosswinds at the site added problems for aircraft, creating the need for a new facility.
The Federal Aviation Administration agreed to fund $123 million of the cost, with the rest coming from city funds, Washington County and federal stimulus money.
Chip Childs, the president and chief operating officer of SkyWest Airlines, the regional carrier that flies out of the airport, said the new facility will allow the airline to use jets for the first time in St. George.
"We're responding to service the [community] deserves," said Childs, adding that a daily flight to Los Angeles will be offered starting March 6.
Gov. Gary Herbert was among those on the first flight, which flew over the city and near Zion National Park, before returning to the airport.
Earlier in the day at the Washington County Economic Summit, Herbert said the airport is an important transportation component that will help strengthen Utah's economy.
"This [airport] is a catalyst for continued economic expansion," he said.
The new 9,500-foot runway is not the first at the site of the new airport. In the 1940s, a dirt landing strip was used to train pilots, including Eldon McArthur, the 90-year-old father of the current mayor.
In 1945 while learning to fly, Eldon McArthur said he crash-landed his small plane but was able to walk away.
"I was a student pilot, and the instructor forced me to land," said Eldon, adding he eventually flew for the Civil Air Patrol and developed an eye for flying to areas of southern Utah by landmarks alone.
On Wednesday, Eldon McArthur was on the airport's inaugural jet flight. He called the new airport "beautiful."
The mayor said his father instilled in him a fascination for flight as a child and took him on his first flight.
In appreciation, the mayor got a seat on Wednesday's flight for his father.
"I wanted to return the favor," said the mayor.