Biloxi, IHL and state agree on air taxi research at Point Cadet
Mayor FoFo Gilich told the Biloxi City Council that the city, the state's Institutions of Higher Learning and the state of Mississippi have reached an agreement to study electric air taxi, drone and "sea glider" technology on jointly owned land at Point Cadet.
Gilich raised the matter during his mayor's report at the council's Sept. 22 regular session, calling it the first item on the agenda. "We have an agreement with the Secretary of State and all three entities are ready to move forward with some R&D related to what could happen on this page," Gilich said, describing the arrangement as a research effort rather than a finished project. A representative of a private development firm also addressed the council, saying the goal is to determine whether the Point Cadet site could host vertiports for the aircraft and eventually draw manufacturers, and pointing to similar initiatives already underway in Louisiana, Texas and Florida.
No public funding commitment was voted on at the meeting.
The agreement covers land held jointly by the city and the state's higher-education land authority, and marks an early step in what officials describe as an economic-development push tied to emerging aviation technology. City leaders have not detailed what, if any, land-use terms, funding or incentives might follow the research phase, and no specifics on ownership shares or financial commitments were presented publicly at the meeting. Whether the project advances toward manufacturing, and what obligations the city or state might take on to attract that investment, remains to be seen as the arrangement moves forward.