Albany, aviation officials set to discuss future of Southwest Georgia Regional Airport | PHOTOS

ALBANY — Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan said Saturday she will use information from a meeting with Southwest Georgia Regional Airport officials Monday to help her determine, to a degree, the future of the airport.

Albany Aviation Commission Board Chairman Dr. Bill Mayher and board member Dr. Charles Gillespie expressed concern last week that leaving Transportation Director David Hamilton in charge of operations at both the airport and the downtown Transit Authority, with no dedicated director of the airport, threatens the future of the airport.

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“I want to make this clear: I respect David Hamilton and believe him to be a capable and hard-working individual,” Mayher said. “But I believe (former interim City Manager Tom Berry) put him in a no-win situation when he put David in charge of the airport and Transit. That’s just too much for one person to do well.

“There are so many issues at the airport that David is not trained for. We’re trying to get funding to improve our fixed-base operations, we have to do all we can to keep UPS here and maintain our status as the second-largest cargo airport in Georgia, and there are so many areas — like disaster training — that David has never had to deal with.”

But Subadan said she must determine whether the airport is capable of increasing activity and revenue enough to pay for the cost of a dedicated airport director.

“It’s really a little too soon for me to tell whether hiring an airport director would be the best use of taxpayer money,” the city manager said. “I’m having my first meeting with the Aviation Commission Monday, and I want to hear their concerns. I’ve looked at activity and revenue at the airport, and right now it does not pay for itself. I want to know if it’s possible to increase revenue and activity to a level that the airport could be self-sustaining if we hire a director.

“In the meantime, I have great confidence in David. He’s a solid professional, and I believe he can handle the responsibilities he’s been given.”

ECONOMIC ASSET

With three Delta commuter flights coming into and flying out of the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport each day, the small airport obviously pales in comparison to the state’s — and world’s — busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. And while Aviation Commission board members like Mayher and Gillespie and airport supporters like Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Rashelle Beasley argue that, with a better understanding of how fares are determined and more planning, local air travelers can find bargains using the local airport, the facility’s hugest obstacle is cost.

“We know people leave Albany every day, driving to Atlanta, Tallahassee and Jacksonville to fly out of their airports,” Mayher said. “And some of them drive over to Columbus, leave their vehicles there and take van service to the Atlanta airport. That’s something we always fight.

“There are ways people can save money by flying out of our airport, but the general public just doesn’t know that. We have to educate the public, let them know that they can fly more economically out of here. That’s an area where groups like the Chamber of Commerce could be helping us, but, frankly, they don’t. Our chamber and Economic Development Commission do not help sell our airport.”

Another perceived problem at the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport is flight cancellations. But Gillespie points to an airport flight activity report that shows only 11 cancellations during Fiscal Year 2015. Seven of the cancellations were listed as weather-related, two for crew issues and two for mechanical problems.

“That’s a pretty good record, but, of course, if your flight is one of the ones that is cancelled, you’re going to believe that it’s an ongoing issue, based on personal experience,” Gillespie said.

The two physicians, who with fellow (retired) medical doctor Frank Middleton make up a good portion of the seven-member Aviation Commission, have experience to rely on when talking about the goings-on at the airport. All three fly frequently, for business and pleasure.

“I actually used to fly all over south Georgia to see patients,” Mayher, a neurosurgeon, said. “When we didn’t have a statewide EMS system, some patients with head injuries couldn’t be moved. I’d fly to see them at the request of physicians throughout the state.”

Gillespie said that during his many years of flying, there’s been only one instance, and that was at the insistence of the people he was flying with, that he has not begun his destination at the Albany airport.

“And I’ve flown to medical meetings all over the United States and have been to 82 different countries,” he said.

Middleton, a certified pilot who has a passion for aviation, said he hopes city officials will consider the importance of the airport when they determine future plans for the facility.

“First of all, I reserve judgment on whether it’s best for the city to change its transportation plans and hire another airport director,” Middleton said. “I’m very impressed with the gentleman the interim city manager (Berry) put in place, and I think we need to give Mr. Hamilton an opportunity to show everyone what he can do. I just hope our officials don’t fall into a trap of thinking the airport is just a place for rich people to come and go.

“The airport is, I believe, a huge piece of economic development in our community. I was at the airport this morning, and one of the plantation owners flew in on his private jet. And during hunting season, there are always five or six private jets at a time flying in, the hunters staying in the community, eating at our restaurants. The plantation owners pay millions of dollars in taxes, and quail hunting is a huge industry here.”

CARGO HUB

Indeed, few argue the positive economic impact the airport has on the community. In addition to the more than 40,000 passengers who fly into and out of the airport annually and the captains of industry who fly in on private jets, the UPS operation at the airport flew more than 8.5 million pounds of freight in and out of the airport in FY 2015. That brought slightly less than $150,000 in fees into the airport.

“Towns without airports dry up on the vine,” Mayher said. “Look at what we have coming in here: People from Procter & Gamble, MillerCoors, M&M Mars, the Marine base. They come in on private jets or commercial flights. At any given time when you come here, there will be three to five corporate jets sitting on the runway.

“For a community that does not have a passenger rail system and is not on the interstate, air traffic is a key on the corporate level.”

And, Gillespie adds, UPS’s role in the area’s economy can’t be overestimated.

“When we talk about the airport, we have to keep in mind how important having that hub here is,” he said. “They won’t fly in during the hours that our tower is not operational. That means after 8 p.m. until 8 o’clock the next morning, they’ll deliver freight to Tallahassee or Pensacola.

“It would cost the city an additional half-million dollars to keep the tower operational around the clock. The federal government was going to do away with our tower, but they allowed us to keep it operational for 12 hours a day. The folks at the Valdosta airport would do anything they could to get UPS to come there, and we have to do everything we can to keep them.”

Beasley said the airport is critical to the convention business that has become a significant part of the state’s multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

“A lot of the big meetings and conventions won’t even consider coming to your city if you don’t have a significant enough airport,” she said. “So we feel fortunate having the airport; it gives us opportunities some communities don’t have. To give you a benchmark example, Darton (State College) hosted a theater conference recently, and 80 people flew into our airport from all over the country.

“Part of our service is letting people who come here know the flight schedules and rates at the airport. It’s an important part of what we do.”

Bobby McKinney, who serves as chairman of the CVB board, is part of the chamber’s executive committee and is chairman of the county’s Board of Elections and Registration, said having a “professionally-managed, well-run” airport is vital to the growth of not only Albany and Dougherty County, but Southwest Georgia in general.

“We can’t overstate the commercial importance of the airport,” McKinney said. “That UPS hub makes us the second-busiest cargo airport in the state, and that doesn’t need to change. We have to keep that in the forefront when we talk about the airport’s future, because Valdosta would kill to have UPS. It’s important that we not drop the ball.”

Noting that any future base realignment and closure plans with the country’s military could potentially impact Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, which is one of the most frequent users of the local airport and one of the county’s largest employers, Mayher said any discussion of the airport’s future should include base officials.

MASTER PLAN

Airport officials have a master plan in place for future growth. Extension of the runway to accommodate larger 767 carriers, which would solidify UPS’s position at the airport, and improvements on the woefully inadequate fixed-base operations hangars are crucial to those plans.

“The improvements outside the (new) terminal building are critical,” Middleton said. “The people who don’t fly into Albany on the Delta (commercial) flights, their first impression of the city are these run-down, neglected hangars that leak when it rains. Trust me, there’s been a lot of yakking about that the last couple of years.

“The airport is a city asset, and like all other assets it’s got to be maintained. We have a plan in place now, but how quickly it moves ahead depends on, like everything else, funding. I think the city’s going to have to invest in this facility that’s a meaningful stimulus to our economy.”

Mayher admits that one of his primary concerns as he and other airport officials prepare to sit down with Subadan to discuss the facility is that a vital public transportation facility in the community will have its future determined by demographics.

“Certainly there are needs for public transportation in the community,” he said. “I understand that people use the Transit system to go to work and carry out other business in the community. But I hope our city leaders will understand that the airport is also vital to the community’s future. Contrary to what some seem to believe, our airport is much more than ‘the rich man’s folly.’”