Some Things You Just Like To Be Around ...

... like watching the construction of a new airport, which is what they’re up to in Paulding County, GA. They’re building a first class business aviation airport here some 40 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. In the previous 10-15 years, much of Atlanta’s growth was to the northeast; now it’s headed west. According to Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport director Blake Swafford, the airport’s official opening will be April 30. The airfield is already open … during our interview, I watched through the window of the temporary construction offices a Cessna 172 doing touch-and-gos.  Cool. The county-sponsored airport is in the process of negotiating with a private sector company to provide fixed base operation services. Swafford says the decision was made to go with the private sector for services primarily for two reasons: a better level of service; and, the private investment dollars that can bring with it new hangars and new sources of revenue. Through the years I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of new airport sites – hard to believe in an era when it’s more commonplace to see established airports disappear so they can become residential developments, industrial parks, or … worse yet … strip malls. Let’s see. There was the new Denver International, which when I first visited was a massive earth-moving project with a developing terminal stuck in the middle. There were Caterpillar trucks and graders everywhere … it was invigorating to see an industrial complex in the making, all in the name of creating a new airport. There was Stafford, VA, where they built a new reliever some 30 miles south of Washington, D.C. And Concord, NC, where they built a new airport some 30 miles north of Charlotte adjacent to a legendary NASCAR track. And there was the Alliance Airport north of Fort Worth, where the Ross Perot Group turned a small Texas town and bunches of acreage into the massive residential/commercial development it is today. Remarkable. If anyone doubts the ability of an airport to generate economic activity and jobs, just read the history of Alliance. Paulding Northwest director Swafford says the two key lessons he’s learned through the process of building a new airport is that one can’t plan too much (music to FAA’s ears) and buy as much acreage as one can afford, to inhibit encroachment. It’s just so much fun being around the development of a new airport. It’s like a rebirth. Guess I’ve had the lobotomy. Thanks for reading. jfi