NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) -The Coastal Carolina Regional Airport, also known as EWN Airport, is an inbound gateway to historic New Bern, the Crystal Coast, the Outer Banks, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and many more in the east, and is adding flights.

Mark Yates flew into EWN through a connecting American Airlines flight at Charlotte from Columbus, Ohio, for the Cherry Point Air Show.

“I didn’t even know New Bern had an airstrip. So convenient to have. It’s an hour, hour and 20-minute flight from Charlotte. Had we been driving, that would have been a whole other day of a trip,” Yates said.

According to airport director Andrew Shorter, the demand for air travel has been growing since the pandemic.

“The demand over the last year has been increasing 10% per year so that’s very good. We think the airlines are going to see a banner year this year, more than they had in 2019, the banner year leading up to now,” Shorter explained.

In response, American Airlines added 2 more daily flights to Charlotte now totaling 6.

The terminals are also expanding with airport renovations, including more gates and jet bridges.

Shorter says the more passenger traffic, the bigger the economic impact it brings to the area.

Yates says he is excited to hear local airports are improving.

“Next year we get out to do more shows so, the less driving we do and the more flying we can do the better so, it definitely helps us out a lot to be able to cut down the trips,” Yates shared.

Breeze Airways will also be serving EWN starting May 24th, offering two flights a week to Hartford, Connecticut and Orlando, Florida.

According to Shorter, EWN is also working on corporate air space development and dealing with pilot shortages.