Atlanta’s private airports prepare for World Cup

The matches come as metro Atlanta’s private aviation industry has grown, and the county-owned airports that serve it are all trying to keep their infrastructure up to snuff, both for the big games — and for their regular customers.

“What they’ve told us is each World Cup day will be equal to one Super Bowl,” Clark said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

For Fulton, while exact reservations won’t be known until a few months out, that could mean somewhere between 200 and 250 airplanes parked on taxiways, he said. More like 25-30 is normal.

In 2019, according to the Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee After Action Report, nearly 1,600 private jets landed at Atlanta-area airports.

“It’s kind of like Easter Sunday at church. You just park everywhere,” Clark recalled.

Cobb County International Airport in Kennesaw also plans to modify its existing overflow aircraft parking, security and temporary terminal operations to handle an expected increase, said Wesley McDonald, airport operations manager, in a statement.

While Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has its own general aviation operation, metro Atlanta’s other smaller airports also serve the market, including airports in Fulton County (known as Charlie Brown Field), Cobb (McCollum Field), DeKalb (DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, known as PDK) and Gwinnett (Briscoe Field).

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Construction abounds

Just in time for the World Cup, Fulton this summer will break ground on a $2 million grant-funded resurfacing of its main runway, which is more than 20 years old, Clark said.

“We’re at the point now that we can’t prolong it any longer.”

DeKalb-Peachtree Airport is also replacing part of its 1960s-era concrete in its main runway later this year, its director, Hunter Hines, told the AJC. The airport is also about to complete a replacement of all airfield lighting with LED bulbs.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg as airports work to upgrade all kinds of infrastructure and keep up with industry demands.

Fulton County has secured another federal grant to build a new dedicated U.S. customs facility next year in response to recent growth in international flights.

Right now, Customs and Border Protection agents have to drive up from Hartsfield-Jackson to meet international flights and clear passengers on the tarmac, he said. The agency has been asking for a stand-alone building, he said, “because they know the number of international flights is continuing to increase, and they’re trying to get ahead of it.”

Cobb is the metro’s lone general aviation airport with a dedicated customs facility.

Fulton — which hosts a large number of corporate fleets with tenants, including Coca-Cola, Home Depot and Norfolk Southern — has seen a rise in international business flights to and from Europe, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, he said.

Cobb County is also in the midst of a massive multiyear improvement plan to handle its increase in annual flights, McDonald said. That includes a new 6,000-square-foot terminal currently in the works and two new 25,000-square-foot hangars by 2030. Demolition for the first one started in May.

Gwinnett County is undergoing a $17 million upgrade of its hangars, asphalt and buildings. It’s also looking for grant funding for a new air traffic control tower and planning new taxiway rehabilitation projects.

Long term, Clark said, Fulton has its eye on someday funding a runway extension on top of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard to accommodate even larger planes — a smaller version of the bridge over I-285 that made way for Hartsfield-Jackson’s fifth runway, he explained.

DeKalb-Peachtree hopes to build a whole new administration building to replace its current one, which dates to 1939, and perhaps incorporate its own Customs facility there, Hines said.

The airport also hopes to fund new hangar space soon. It has a waiting list more than 100 people long, he said.

But even with those needs, metro Atlanta’s airports are still far better off than the rest of the state’s, says State Sen. and Appropriations Committee Chair Blake Tillery.

Rural Georgia’s smaller airports are in dire need of support, and the state has been increasing its funding for them in response, specifically targeting safety projects.

“We’ve got concrete in Georgia that’s 100 years old,” he said.

Georgia’s regional airports recently also received more than $13 million in federal infrastructure law funding, Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock announced last month.

Credit: Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com

Credit: Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com

‘Essential’ for economic growth

While the reputation of general aviation is one of “rich people flying on jets,” that’s a misconception, says Brent Wouters, CEO of Jet Linx, a private jet membership company with a base at PDK.

For corporate clients, which represent most of Jet Linx’s business, it’s all about “productivity.”

“You can put five or six people on the airplane for the same cost as flying one person (first class), and so you end up being able to accomplish more things, serve your suppliers better, serve your clients better. And that’s really the thing that people miss,” he said.

Plus, in a place like Atlanta with one commercial airport, he added, access to more general aviation airport locations can save executives based on the northern side of metro Atlanta a lot of time by avoiding the drive to ATL.

“I think that people fail to realize sometimes just how essential these airports are for economic growth,” he said.

General aviation planes can land at roughly 10 times the number of airports across the U.S. compared to airlines, according to the National Business Aviation Association.

George Mattson, CEO of Atlanta-based Wheels Up, said the city is one of the company’s strongest and largest markets.

Delta Air Lines-backed Wheels Up is looking to build a new model that integrates Wheels Up’s own private jet fleet and charter network into Delta’s offerings, he explained.

Mattson said Wheels Up is targeting companies a bit smaller than those with their own corporate jets but “still very sizable.”

“It’s the $1 billion revenue company that has a disparate operation or distribution centers ... and needs to figure out a way to get around,” he said.

In Atlanta, there are “dozens and dozens, maybe hundreds” of companies like that.

Beyond their everyday business, Wheels Up and Jet Linx both confirmed they are preparing for a World Cup uptick in VIP demand for private jet flights.

“With all the influx of people coming in, we see a significant influx of private aviation opportunity coming with that,” Mattson said.

Wouters confirmed they’re “already seeing early interest” from their members and “our teams are planning ahead to ensure we’re ready.”

Credit: NATRICE MILLER

Credit: NATRICE MILLER