AUBURN – Operators of Auburn’s airport want to be sure they’ve got public support before they try to bring in passenger service.

“Wherever I am, once people realize who I am, the first thing that comes up is passenger air service,” airport Manager Rick Cloutier said. “They say they want it. Well, now is the time for all those people to step forward and be counted.”

The airport is hosting a planning meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments office, 125 Manley Road.

Cloutier said he is also taking comments via telephone at 786-0631.

He wants to hear from neighbors and area people about bringing passenger service to Auburn Lewiston Municipal Airport.

“It could be a great economic boost for the area, if we could get a regular air service here,” he said. “It would mean more traffic to the area, and more business and more leisure travelers. It just creates more options for central Maine.”

It would be expensive, however. In April, Cloutier told Lewiston councilors it could take as much as $10 million in investments to lure and keep an air carrier.

“And some of that would have to come locally,” he said.

The testimony Thursday could determine whether the airport continues studying passenger service and if it should apply for federal Small Community Air Service grants. That’s a Federal Aviation Agency grant program, and it takes at least nine months to write the grant application.

The study would be the first step, Cloutier said. That will try to determine if passenger travel is possible out of the municipal airport, Maine’s third busiest. Auburn-Lewiston air traffic accounts for about 10 percent of the total in Maine, according to a 2006 master plan. Maine’s air traffic is expected to increase by 40 percent over the next 20 years, and the local airport is expected to keep pace.

Next, the airport would begin talking to carriers to see if any are interested in Auburn.

“It wouldn’t have to be a big carrier, but could be charter service,” he said. “We’d be looking to do something different than what’s currently available. We don’t necessarily want to duplicate things that exist now, but find a niche.”