Business View Magazine | August 2019

145 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 T he LaGrange Callaway Airport is a public- use, general and business aviation airport located three miles southwest of the City of LaGrange, in Troup County, Georgia, and 50 miles south of Atlanta. “Lagrange Callaway opened in 1929 as a grass landing strip,” explains Airport Manager, Dexter Wells. “During World War II, it was upgraded to a typical three-runway, A design. After the war, it was owned by the Troup County Board of Commissioners and the City of LaGrange. In 2015, that changed when the Airport became a department of Troup County. It is currently operated by the County and governed by the Board of Commissioners. We have two full-time and three part-time employees and are actively working on growth.” At the time the County took over, LaGrange Callaway had 17,100 aircraft operations per year, averaging 46 per day - 99 per cent general aviation and 1 per cent military. 62 aircraft were then based at the airport - 82 per cent single-engine, 10 per cent multi-engine, two per cent jet, and six per cent glide. Today, there are 65 aircraft based on the field, with a waiting list of 15 for hangars. “I would say that, right now, 20 per cent of our clients are business and 80 per cent is recreational,” says Wells, “And so, the biggest thing that we are working on is planning for the future.” The good news is that the LaGrange Callaway Airport is right in the middle of the Georgia International Business Park (GIBP), an established, LaGrange Callaway Airport Better by the day