Airport Clears Federal Inspection

By Travis Fain, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Jun. 9–Federal regulators gave Middle Georgia Regional Airport a thumbs-up during this week’s annual inspection, signaling a continued upward climb since last year, when regulators found problems that nearly closed the airport to commercial flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration gave the airport a clean bill of health during a Wednesday visit, except for one issue: A safety area near one of the runways needs to be regraded, said Marcia Adams, spokeswoman for the FAA.

“The FAA was pleased with the progress of the airport,” Adams said.

Mayor Jack Ellis said he was happy with the positive report. Since this past fall, the city has fired its airports director, though he later retired instead as part of a brokered agreement, has paid a private company more than $90,000 to bring the airport up to snuff and has begun upgrades that will increase the airport’s budget not just this year, but in years to come.

On that front, Ellis said Thursday that he recently received word that the airport has received an $800,000 federal grant to do some of the needed work, including restriping along Middle Georgia Regional’s runways.

Capital projects such as restriping, along with added security and operations personnel at the airport, have pushed the city’s proposed aviation budget up by about $200,000 for the coming year.

The security adjustments were made to satisfy the Transportation Security Administration, which also came down on the airport recently for various violations.

Ellis and his staff are also considering privatization options. They are in talks with TBI Airport Management, which has put in a bid to manage Middle Georgia Regional in a partnership with the city. TBI is the company that helped bring Middle Georgia Regional into compliance this year.

A final decision on privatization would require City Council approval.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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