Business View Magazine | November 2020

189 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2020 supporting the region with 376 jobs with an annual payroll of $14,700,000, and $37,169,000 in economic output for the local and regional economies. As airport tenancy continues to grow– there are currently around 60 private and corporate home- based aircraft on property - Fordham says that he would like to see more hangars built by private developers - as opposed to the county footing the bill. “Right now, everything is owned by the Airport and rented out. We have 18 hangars and they’re all full. There’s a lot of land on the west side of the airport; most everything has been developed on the east side. I think there’s a couple of hundred acres, at least, that’s available to develop with more to be obtained if we need it,” he notes. “We’re getting ready to do an apron re-hab project – we’re still working on the cost for that; it should be somewhere around a million dollars. We also want to put in a taxiway into an area where we can build more hangars or have ground leases so others can build hangars. I think it’s better if people build their own hangars.” Fordham says that the Airport’s 6,506-ft. runway is currently able to handle any normal traffic. “There was some talk about lengthening the runway, but we haven’t gotten that solidified yet,” he shares. “Right now, we’ve got a very good runway with two parallel taxiways and the pavement is in pretty good shape. So, I don’t foresee having any resurfacing projects within the next five years or so.” Regarding any potential competition from nearby airports, Fordham says that Heart of Georgia has lots of services available that one wouldn’t necessarily find elsewhere. “We have everything from catering, to courtesy cars, to 24-hour fuel availability for jets and pistons,” he reports. “And our normal operating hours are a little bit longer; we’re open 8-5 Monday through Saturday, and 12-5 on Sunday. And we don’t mind staying till seven or eight o’clock at night if we need to. A lot of airports, after a certain hour, you can’t get mga.edu/aviation Middle Georgia State University is the first public institution in Georgia with a degree to receive the Aviation Accreditation Board International accreditation. AABI ACCREDITED Bachelor of Science in Aviation Science & Management - Advanced Flight THE HEART OF GEORGI A REGIONAL A I RPORT