Frallic retiring as Gulfport-Biloxi airport director

April 19--GULFPORT -- Bruce Frallic, who has served as executive director of Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport for the last 26 years, will retire in August.

When the announcement was made Wednesday, Travis Lott, chairman of the Airport Authority, thanked Frallic for his many years of service to the airport, the public and South Mississippi.

In his 26 years, Frallic has guided the airport through the advent of the casino industry in South Mississippi, the downturn in travel after 9/11, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the rebuilding that followed.

The growth of South Mississippi as a casino destination brought a 400 percent increase in passenger boardings during the 1990s, according to airport records.

An expansion of the airport was delayed by two years after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 damaged or destroyed many buildings.

Since then, the terminal expansion increased the annual capacity of passengers from 1 million to 2.4 million passengers.

The airport has a new air cargo facility, new general aviation area, parking garage with covered walkways and two hotels.

Frallic graduated from Miami University in Ohio and served as a U.S. Marine Corps aviator in 1967, serving in Vietnam.

Forty of Frallic's 45 years in the aviation industry have been in commercial airport management.

After his military service, he worked at airports in Pensacola and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

He moved to Mississippi in 1974 and served as airport director in Hattiesburg-Laurel Airport before coming to the Gulfport airport in 1986.

Frallic received an MBA in aviation from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

He is an accredited airport executive, a charter member and the first president of the Mississippi Airport Managers Association and past president of the Southeastern Airport Managers Association.

Copyright 2012 - The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.