Charleston Regional Aviation Authority Website Privacy Policy and Disclaimer

Disclaimer

The Charleston Regional Aviation Authority, owner of Charleston International Airport (CHS), Mount Pleasant Regional Airport (LRO) and Charleston Executive Airport (JZI), welcomes the opportunity to provide information on its websites to its patrons as well as the general public. The Charleston International Airport and its general aviation airport websites are official sites of the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority. They are intended for use by the general public for viewing and retrieving information only.

Use of these websites signifies your agreement with the terms and conditions of use. The terms and conditions of use as well as the content of the websites are subject to change at any time without prior notice.

Disclaimers

Although every effort has been made to provide complete and accurate information, the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority makes no warranties, express or implied, or representations as to the accuracy of content on this website. The Charleston Regional Aviation Authority assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the information contained in the website or the operation of the website.

By using the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority websites, you assume all risks associated with the use of these sites including any risk of your computer, software or data being damaged by a virus, software, or any other files which might be transmitted or activated via the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority websites. The Charleston Regional Aviation Authority expressly disclaims any liability for any special, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues, or lost profits, resulting from the use or misuse of the information contained in the website.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, costs including attorneys’ fees, arising from or related to your use of its websites.

Links to other websites

These websites contain links to other Internet sites and information provided by persons not affiliated with the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority. Such links are not endorsements or referrals of any products, services or information contained in such websites, and no information in any such website has been endorsed or approved hereby. No claims, promises, or guarantees about the completeness, accuracy, currency, content or quality of information contained in the links to and from these websites are made. Information provided and opinions expressed by others do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority. The Charleston Regional Aviation Authority expressly disclaims any and all liability resulting from reliance on such information or opinions.

Privacy Policy

Information Collection and Usage

When you visit any of the Charleston Regional Aviation Authority’s websites, no personally identifying information about you is gathered, unless you choose to provide such information in an e-mail message or through contact forms. If you send us e-mail or submit a form, we use the information you send to respond to your inquiry. E-mail correspondence to the Aviation Authority, like U.S. mailed correspondence, may become a public record. As a public record, your correspondence could be disclosed to other parties upon their request, in accordance with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.

Analytics and Tracking

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) through Google Tag Manager (GTM) to collect information about how visitors use our websites. GA4 collects information such as which pages visitors view, how they navigate the site, and basic device information. This data is collected according to Google’s standard GA4 settings and is used solely to improve our websites and services.

GA4 employs cookies to define user sessions, which allows for the collection of data about how visitors are using the websites. According to Google, the data collected cannot be altered or retrieved by services from other domains.

You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser. For more information on Google Analytics, please visit Google Analytics.

Cookie Management

We use Monsido for cookie consent management, which allows visitors to opt out of non-essential cookies. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through the cookie consent banner available on our website. Essential cookies required for basic site functionality cannot be disabled.

If you choose, you can also opt out by turning off cookies in the preferences settings in your web browser.

Contact Forms

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide through our contact forms powered by Formidable. All forms include GDPR-compliant opt-in options. Information submitted through these forms is used solely for the purpose of responding to your inquiry. We retain this information for no more than 30 days after resolution of your inquiry, after which it is automatically deleted from our systems.

Our forms utilize Cloudflare Turnstile to prevent automated submissions and protect against spam.

Customer Service Chatbot

Our websites use Microsoft Copilot Studio to provide customer service assistance. Interactions with this chatbot are stored according to Microsoft’s default data retention settings and may be used for training and improving the chatbot’s responses. No personally identifiable information is required to use the chatbot, but any information you voluntarily share during these interactions is subject to Microsoft’s privacy policies.

Security Measures

The Charleston Regional Aviation Authority implements robust security measures to protect your information, including:

Full SSL/HTTPS encryption for all website communications
Regular security audits and penetration testing (conducted periodically, with the next test scheduled for June 2025)
Advanced firewall protection through Wordfence and Cloudflare
CAPTCHA protection (Cloudflare Turnstile) to prevent automated form submissions

While we implement these measures to protect your information, no internet transmission is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Third-Party Services

Our websites utilize various third-party services that may collect or process data, including:

WP Engine (hosting provider)
Cloudflare (content delivery and security)
RankMath Pro (SEO tools)
WP-Engine AI-Powered Smart Search (search functionality)
Microsoft Copilot Studios Chatbot (AI powered customer service assistance)
Monsido (Cookie consent management and uptime monitoring)
Google Analytics (User engagement reporting)

Each of these services has their own privacy policies that govern their use of data. We encourage you to review their respective privacy policies for more information.

Embedded Content from Other Websites

Our websites may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, maps, etc.) from other websites. Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you had visited the other website directly.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements.

Media and Uploaded Images

If you upload images to our websites (such as through contact forms), you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website. We do not control or monitor the presence of EXIF data in uploaded images.

Where Your Data Is Sent

Information collected through our websites may be processed and stored on servers located in the United States. Additionally, some of our third-party service providers may transfer and process your data in other countries. By using our websites, you consent to the transfer of your data to these locations, which may have different data protection rules than your country.

User Rights Under Privacy Regulations

In accordance with applicable privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), users may have certain rights regarding their personal information, including:

The right to know what personal information is collected
The right to request deletion of personal information
The right to access personal information
The right to opt-out of the sale of personal information (note that we do not sell personal information)

To exercise these rights or for any privacy-related inquiries, please contact us at [email protected].

WordPress-Specific Provisions

Our websites are built on the WordPress platform. While we have disabled comments and user accounts for the general public, the platform may still set cookies necessary for basic site functionality.

Updates to This Policy

This privacy policy and disclaimer may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The most current version will always be posted on our websites.

Contact Information

Technical questions or concerns about Aviation Authority websites should be directed to [email protected].

Last Updated: May 19, 2025