When Dave Edwards took over the helm at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in July 2009, the region and nation were still reeling from the Great Recession of the previous year. Air travel had seen a precipitous decline.
That he has managed to steer GSP through that turbulence and onto a path of historic growth over the past 16 years is a testament to sound leadership skills, according to those who’ve worked closely with him.
But as Edwards himself has consistently asserted, the airport and its success are only a reflection of the overall health and growth of the Upstate region the airport serves.
As his January 2026 retirement as GSP’s president and CEO nears, Edwards said his approach to pursuing the right growth at the right time has positioned the airport to meet the community’s needs.
Reversing the slump
By the time Edwards arrived at GSP in 2009, travel through the airport had dropped between 30% and 40% in the wake of the 2008 recession. He felt it was incumbent on him to begin to plan for the future and pursue strategies that would entice more travelers to use GSP.
The airport and its commission already had a strong tradition of strategic planning under the leadership of Spartanburg textile titan Roger Milliken, who was instrumental in the push to create the airport in the late 1950s.
Finding the right person to continue that legacy was important, according to Minor Shaw, chairperson of the GSP Airport Commission and a commission member since 1994. She said Edwards brought a deep understanding of the aviation industry and an extensive network of contacts that have helped the commission and the GSP leadership team identify trends and develop plans for anticipated growth.
Edwards said he saw an airport and a region poised for growth and a wealth of opportunities to meet that growth, especially in light of the number of national and international companies that called the region home.
“It was interesting to me the number of international businesses that made up our community here in the Upstate,” Edwards said. “It seemed there would be a lot of opportunity for growing our business.”
Two priorities were updating and expanding the terminal building and recruiting more airlines to expand the number of destinations served by the airport. Edwards helped recruit Southwest Airlines in 2011, and the addition helped grow air travel 43% in 2012 when service began.
The $125 million Wingspan terminal improvement project also began in 2012 and wrapped up in 2017, expanding and modernizing the terminal to better serve passengers using the airport.
Helping drive growth
While Edwards is hesitant to assert the airport is a primary driver of the Upstate’s economic and population growth, he said the roughly $400 million in capital investments made during his tenure have worked in concert with regional efforts to boost economic development.
Shaw underscored GSP’s role in making a good impression to visitors coming to the area for the first time and Edwards’ role in executing the projects that have made that possible.
In this respect, Edwards has done a phenomenal job of making the airport a showcase for all the Upstate has to offer, according to Katherine O’Neill, chief economic development officer for OneSpartanburg.
“The work that Dave has done to take what was already a beautiful airport campus and make it world class is to be commended,” she said. “He has left us better than he found us by a large margin.”
Shaw and O’Neill both credit Edwards with the astute move to expand air cargo service at the height of the pandemic when air passenger travel had come to a halt.
That effort and the capital investments needed to support it have paid huge dividends, O’Neill said. During a recent site visit by an economic development prospect in Spartanburg County, touring the air cargo operations at GSP made a profound, positive impression, she said.
Edwards said with the recent cargo terminal expansion by 60,000 square feet and six parking positions able to accommodate as many 747-800 cargo aircraft simultaneously, GSP is poised to meet further anticipated growth in demand for cargo in the coming years.
Passing the baton
While his retirement is still months away, Edwards is confident he is leaving GSP ready and able to meet the evolving demands of the communities it serves.
Doing that comes down to solid planning.
“For us, planning is about doing,” he said. “There are a lot of organizations that do a lot of planning, but they don’t do anything.”
Executing the plans developed under his tenure has helped magnify the airport’s economic impact on the region from about $377 million a year in 2009 to its current level of about $4.75 billion a year, according to the most recent economic-impact study.
While he anticipates keeping his hand in the industry through some sort of aviation-related consultancy work, Edwards said he looks forward to retirement and doing the things he and his family love doing together. Along the way, he may try to improve his golf game and pursue fishing with more emphasis on the “catching” part of the equation.
“But I also more than likely will not completely turn off from the working world,” he added. “I think it’d be very hard for me to go from a hundred to zero overnight.”
Kevin Howell, who currently serves as executive vice president, has been chosen by the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission to succeed Edwards upon his retirement.
Highlights at GSP under Dave Edwards’ leadership
- New carriers and destinations added including Southwest Airlines (2012), Breeze Airways (2024), Allegiant Airlines (2025) and Avelo Airlines (2023)
- $127 million Wingspan terminal upgrade completed in 2017
- GSP expected to break record by end of 2025 of serving 3 million passengers
- Capital investments totaling more than $400 million include terminal upgrades, cargo facilities, additional parking and roadway improvements
