ITHACA, NY (607NewsNow) – Tompkins County hopes to bolster services at Ithaca Tompkins International Airport (ITH).

Key members of Tompkins County staff are headed to the TakeOff North America Conference in Florida next month, a business and networking event geared toward the domestic air service development community.

It will include airport consultants, ITH Deputy Director and Fire Chief Josh Nalley, and Tompkins County Administrator Korsah Akumfi.

Akumfi hopes to leverage that relationship and others in the area as a tool to attract airlines to Ithaca’s facility.

“My hope is that we can go to this program with a real backbone from here to say that the county, the business communities, the largest employers are all behind our goal to expand services,” said Akumfi.

The conference takes place from November 4-6 in Tallahassee, Florida.