Georgia’s commercial airports facing funding gap

ATLANTA — Georgia’s seven commercial airports are facing a funding gap that threatens to drive businesses out of the state, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s aviation program manager said.

“Without increased investments, projects to improve infrastructure and enhance capacity will be deferred and Georgia’s airports will continue to fall behind neighboring states,” Collette Williams told members of the State Transportation Board’s Intermodal Committee.

Williams said a study of regional airports in Augusta, Brunswick, Columbus, Macon, Savannah, Albany and Valdosta identified funding needs for capital improvement projects of $83.5 million per year. However, the airports receive only $16 million annually from the Federal Aviation Administration and $2.8 million a year from the state, she said.

In comparison, commercial airports in North Carolina are receiving $89 million per year in capital projects funding, while Tennessee airports are getting $33 million annually, she said.

Williams said those other states collect a dedicated sales tax on aviation fuel, while all of the state funding Georgia provides to commercial airports comes from the state’s general-fund budget.

“We really need to start looking at how we close this gap,” board member Cathy Williams of Columbus said. “When a private airplane or a corporate airplane decides to move because the facilities aren’t what they needed … that is business we are not going to get back.”

Committee Chair Emily Dunn of Blue Ridge said board members need to raise awareness among members of the General Assembly — who hold the state’s purse strings — of the funding gap confronting Georgia’s commercial airports.