Athens airport potential expands, fueled by Georgia football’s elite run

ATHENS — Mike Mathews imagines the future when he looks around Athens Ben Epps Airport.

In the next five years, American Airlines or United could provide daily flights, the airport director says, which would be the return of commercial passenger service to the airport for the first time in a decade. There’s a building he’d like to see transformed into a restaurant, and there’s space for the single rental car desk to multiply.

Optimism flows because the airport never has been busier, and facilities recently have undergone $28 million in upgrades.

The biggest factor contributing to the airport’s boom? The University of Georgia’s ascension to the top ranks of college football.

The Bulldogs’ success isn’t just filling the coffers of Athens restaurants, bars and retail shops. “What we normally make in a month on jet fuel, we can make in three days on a game weekend,” Mathews said.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

During the past three years, the Federal Aviation Administration had to issue ground stops — halting incoming flights — three times on Saturdays when Georgia played at home. In those instances, planes were diverted to airports in Winder and Lawrenceville because there was no room to park them in Athens.

That had occurred just once before in the airport’s 100-plus-year history, when Georgia hosted Notre Dame in 2019.

Operations supervisor Russ Parton, who has worked at the airport for 28 years, jokes that he’s “50-50″ on rooting for Georgia’s SEC rivals to keep winning so they remain highly ranked and are regarded as marquee matchups against the Bulldogs later in the season.

“This is the payday time,” he said.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

The Athens-Clarke County-operated airport, located on 425 acres 3 miles north of downtown, typically handles 60 flights a day. That’s with six to eight staff members working.

Home game weekends are a different story. The flights likely will swell to 160 — max capacity for parking the planes around the facility — when Tennessee, currently ranked No. 8 in the nation, arrives to play the Bulldogs in November.

By comparison, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport averages 2,100 flights per day, and the Gwinnett County Airport in Lawrenceville averages more than 220 flights per day. The Barrow County Airport averages more than 130 flights per day.

In Athens, opposing teams typically arrive in two Boeing 737 airliners. Media personnel and fans, both for Georgia and its foes, arrive in private and chartered aircraft. Sometimes, it’s a Gulfstream G650 that seats 18. Sometimes, it’s a single-engine plane carrying just a few people.

All of this creates revenue. There are landing and ramp fees, charges for fuel, baggage handling and more.

Airport staff increases to 22 on game days.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Receiving planes isn’t too difficult because the staff has created a parking system that fits together like a puzzle, Mathews said. But the strategy becomes complicated after games. The opposing team and professionals such as the ESPN broadcast crew aim for a hasty getaway. Some fans might stay until Sunday or Monday, while others want to leave as quickly as possible.

“They’ve had a good time. They might be drunk. They’re ready to leave now,” Mathews said.

Georgia’s games against historically elite opponents like Alabama and LSU always have been big draws, Parton said. But in recent years, fan bases across the SEC have treated Athens as a favorite destination on the schedule. The airport was flooded with flights last season for games against Ole Miss and Kentucky.

And it’s not just football, airport officials point out. Men’s and women’s basketball is a revenue driver for the airport because there are more games on their schedules. And as college athletic budgets continue to rise, teams competing in nonrevenue sports, like soccer and volleyball, are chartering flights, too.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

“At one time, it was just football and basketball operating charters,” Parton said. “Now we’re seeing that from every team at almost every school.”

Other busy times for the Athens airport include graduations and parents weekends at UGA, and during the Masters in Augusta.

Since Mathews became director in 2018, the airport has extended its main runway and added fencing. There are plans to construct a new control tower within the next two years.

A project to improve the taxiway recently was finished. Construction was scheduled around Georgia’s off week and the road game at Alabama.

Mathews says that, had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, American Airlines likely already would be offering flights from Athens to Charlotte. He remains in contact with multiple airlines, working to take the next step.

“Whenever an airline does knock on our door,” Mathews said, “we’ll be ready.”