Business View Magazine | Volume 9, Issue 2

141 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 2 on multiple aeronautic applications including parts of the space station. This work is at the crux of what makes Heart of Georgia Regional Airport so important. The Airport Authority operates as its own FBO, and in the last few years has upgraded everything from holding tanks to pumps. The fuel is supplied by Perry Brothers Aviation and is available for both Jet-A and GA Fuel 24 hours a day. “This is a community airport,” says Airport Manager Jeff Fordham, “and it operates with a seven-member Board of Directors. There are two members from the Eastman City Council, two members from the Dodge County Board Commissioners Office, and two members from the Dodge County-Eastman Development Authority. Then the Georgia House of Representatives appoints a member.” They collectively help promote the airport in several ways. For example, before COVID they held an annual 5K Runway Run that was very popular and they hope to start that back up again in the near future. The airport was recently awarded $8 million in infrastructure grants and they are in the process of getting some of those projects ready. For example, core samples and engineering studies were done under the purview of the engineering firm of record, Michael Baker International, to enable the runway and taxiways to be completely redone. Fordham reports, “Some of it will be re-milled and some just resurfaced. We are working to overcome water issues between the hangars, and we are looking at what needs to be increased. We have procured some land for new hangars, so we are just trying to figure out how to fit it all together.” He goes on to point out that the logistics of repairing the runway are not as easy as one might hope. The University itself accounts for several hundred operations a day. On top of that, there are corporate users such as HEART OF GEORGI A REGIONAL A I RPORT