MACON, Ga. — Much of the traffic at Middle Georgia Regional Airport comes from private charters. Those pilots may soon see a change when they go to refuel.
Macon-Bibb County announced last week they plan to take over some operations at Lowe Aviation, which handles much of the refueling, and some maintenance at the airport. They're currently the airport's fixed base operator, or FBO.
"FBOs will provide different aeronautical services," Heather Lowe explained.
Lowe is the airport's manager. She says airports all over the country have FBOs on-site.
"You have these charter operations, as well as they will fuel aircraft. So that's one of the main services that they do offer," she said.
Right now, Lowe Aviation offers all those services. They also run the executive terminal at Middle Georgia Regional. The lease on that terminal is about to run out, and the county will not renew it. Instead, they plan to take over those operations.
"Macon-Bibb County is putting a lot of money into this airport. It's a very large investment. So that's one of the main reasons why it was thought to be very important that we assume that role for future development here at the airport," Lowe said.
She says this allows airport management to have direct communication with private pilots, meaning better logistics. Lowe Aviation will still play a key role at the airport, running their charter business.
"They'll still operate their charter here on the north ramp, the north end of the airport," Lowe said.
The county expects the transition to start a couple months after they officially sign the agreement. That includes taking on some Lowe Aviation employees as county employees. Once the transition starts, Macon-Bibb expects it to take three- to-six-months. Lowe Aviation will move out of the current executive terminal and into their other airport facilities.
The county will build a brand-new terminal in its place. Airport Director Doug Faour says they're in the design phase.
The airport has some new upgrades planned in addition to the new terminal. They're also wanting to build a new air traffic control tower and expand a runway. In January, they broke ground on the expansion. It's expected to cost around $2 million, partially funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation.
The first phase of that project is constructing a retaining wall near the approach end of the runway. That's the southwest end of the airport near Sardis Church Road.