Atlanta’s second airport
Briscoe ruling good for Gwinnett, bad for Atlanta?
Earlier this month, the Gwinnett County Commission unanimously rejected a proposal from a New York company to turn Lawrenceville’s Briscoe Field into the metro area’s second commercial airport. That decision, one writer says, will cost local travelers in our one-airport town the benefits of competition. But a Gwinnett activist responds that Briscoe is not the right location for such an operation, and taxpayers are better off, given the sketchy financial information in the proposal.
Tom Sabulis is today’s moderator. Commenting is open following Jim Regan’s column.
By Robert Poole
In Houston, Southwest Airlines is getting ready to spend $100 million improving city-owned Hobby Airport. Southwest is building five new international gates and a customs facility so that it can add service to Mexico and the Caribbean from Hobby, the smaller of Houston’s two airports.
In approving Southwest’s plan a few weeks ago, the Houston City Council rejected an all-out lobbying campaign by United Airlines, which uses the city’s larger airport, Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport, as one of its major hubs.
United claimed that having international service from both Houston airports would undermine its own operation at Bush Airport and hurt the region’s economy.
The City Council ignored the pressure from the nation’s largest air carrier and voted to approve the airport expansion plan. As a result, travelers to and from Houston are likely to see more travel choices, increased competition among airlines and lower ticket prices.
Atlanta residents, by contrast, remain stuck with a monopoly airport, situated on the far south side of a sprawling metro area of 4.5 million people that is plagued by some of the nation’s worst traffic congestion.
Many metro Atlanta air travelers, especially those in the northern suburbs, would welcome the opportunity to have a second airport, even one that serves mostly short- and medium-haul routes to cities in the region.
This prospect was recently available in Gwinnett County. New York-based Propeller Investments offered to buy Briscoe Field and upgrade it to attract scheduled airline service in planes as large as 737s.
As usually happens when airport expansion is proposed, some airport neighbors organized to lobby the county Board of Commissioners to turn down the proposal. Unfortunately for Atlanta’s travelers, that’s exactly what county commissioners did.
Just as happened in Houston, the area’s dominant airline — in this case, Delta — opposed the proposal. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on May 23, “Delta, which is reluctant to split its operations between Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Briscoe, has quietly lobbied against the plan.”
Had the airport expansion been approved, Propeller Investments would have added a 10-gate terminal and improved the main runway to handle 737s. With Hartsfield-Jackson served by nearly all major U.S. airlines (and many non-U.S. carriers), would any airlines have sought to provide flights at Briscoe?
Yes. Three aggressive low-cost carriers do not yet offer service in Atlanta: Allegiant, JetBlue and Virgin America. In addition, Delta basically admitted that if the Briscoe plan had gone forward, it would have “reluctantly” added service there, too.
Kinton Aviation Consulting has pointed out that when secondary airports near Boston offered viable alternatives to capacity-constrained Logan Airport, “economic development increase[d] across the whole region.” And, “… the greater Boston area saw more destinations served with direct flights, competitive pricing, and an ease in congestion. We believe the same thing would happen in Atlanta.”
Eleven large U.S. metro areas have populations in excess of 4 million; only two of them lack competing airports today: Atlanta (4.5 million) and Philadelphia (5.4 million). Cities similar in size to Atlanta that have two or more airports include: Boston (4.2 million residents), Houston (4.9 million), and Washington, D.C. (4.6 million).
The failure to expand Briscoe Field is a major setback to the region’s growth.
Atlanta likes to think of itself as a world-class metro area. But nearly all world-class metro areas have multiple airports.
When will metro Atlanta residents support taking this important step forward?
Robert Poole, an MIT-trained engineer, is director of transportation at Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank.
By Jim Regan
As a leader of Citizens for a Better Gwinnett, a member of the Briscoe Citizens Review Committee and a longtime Gwinnett resident, I am here to tell you that Gwinnett County unequivocally made the right decision in denying the Briscoe Field expansion.
Briscoe was never the right location for a regional airport for two reasons:
1. There is too much existing development around Briscoe, and within the approach/departure patterns, to allow for future expansion;
2. The far northeast quadrant of the metro area is too far away from metro Atlanta’s main population base. Given that the drive to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport would have been just as close as Briscoe, industry experts said most travelers would continue to utilize Hartsfield-Jackson over Briscoe because it would offer more flights, more destinations and better ticket pricing.
Additionally, Propeller Investments’ proposal promised limited flights despite the fact that FAA regulations do not allow governments or operators to limit the number of airport flight operations.
The timing of this proposal could not have been worse; it came when airline carriers are retrenching and trying to survive. In the past decade, all major airline carriers, except Southwest, have filed bankruptcy.
The number of major carriers shrank from seven to four. All regional carriers have ceased operation. Airlines are grounding smaller regional jets, reducing the number of flights offered and flying larger jets to achieve economic efficiency.
Expansion would have almost assured the private operators failure and required Gwinnett government and taxpayers to assume much higher future airport operating costs.
Propeller Investments, the sole bidder, is a startup company with no airport operation experience. Propeller’s bid, which is available online, was scored on Gwinnett County purchasing guidelines, receiving only 51 points out of 100 — not a passing score on anyone’s scale.
The 300-plus-page bid does not contain pro-forma financial projections, details of the capital improvement plan or facility costs, a firm letter of credit, or other details a business proposal should contain. Propeller did not even include financial statements to substantiate the company’s stability as a going concern.
Propeller’s bid did continue to make unsubstantiated claims of creating 20,000 jobs and $1.25 billion in economic impact, yet failed to provide supporting economic studies. It only guaranteed Gwinnett County $500,000 per year in rent for an asset that Brett Smith, Propeller’s CEO, valued at $100 million. Propeller’s bid relied heavily on state and federal grants to pay for the proposed $120 million expansion cost — that’s our taxpayer money. Since the grants had not been awarded, what was Plan B if the grants failed to materialize?
When Danny Porter, Gwinnett’s district attorney, stated, “We have to be rid of this culture of corruption that exists in Gwinnett County,” Gwinnett residents should have been alerted that resident involvement is required to restore honesty, integrity and trust to government.
For this, Gwinnett needs groups like C4BG: We will monitor what goes on not just at Briscoe Field, but with all issues affecting our quality of life.
Jim Regan is treasurer of Citizens for a Better Gwinnett. He lives in Lawrenceville.
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28 comments Add your comment
Atlanta’s second airport
June 25th, 2012
5:41 pm
[...] more at Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog). Share this news: Filed Under: Airline [...]
Sam Moore
June 25th, 2012
6:35 pm
I think I smell a fox in the chicken house, why then would the opinion of the commissioners change after one got caught with their hand in the till? Come on it was the Braves stadium and now the air strip, I think it is time to replace all the commissioners!
Saleem
June 25th, 2012
7:44 pm
“…some airport neighbors organized to lobby the county Board of Commissioners to turn down the proposal. Unfortunately for Atlanta’s travelers, that’s exactly what county commissioners did.”
Right, plop a major commercial aviation airport smack in the middle of a densely populated residential area for the convenience of “Atlanta’s travelers”. Thank goodness the news about the bribe-taking county commissioner broke when it did or this abomination might have happemed.
Not Blind
June 25th, 2012
7:58 pm
Lee Gilmer airport in Gainesville makes FAR more sense as a second airport for the greater north metro area. The area is less built up AND more importantly it is already located on a limited access highway that has enough lanes to handle any increase in traffic unlike 316 in Gwinnett.
mike o.
June 25th, 2012
8:57 pm
the second Atlanta Airport should be Macon’s Herbert airport ! since Macon is fast becoming a suburb of Atl. it makes sense since middle Ga. has lower taxes, and far more room for expansion than the road clogged densely populated Gwinnett area !
louis l.
June 25th, 2012
9:12 pm
Agreed, Macon makes more logistical sense. think of all the new industry it will bring, lower tax base, and vast amount of land to develop into a southern silicon valley ! This idea is pure genius !
Out by the Pond
June 25th, 2012
9:34 pm
A major airport in the Macon area would finally provide a justification for the Atlanta/Macon rail line.
Atlanta’s second airport is located near Birmingham.
nmonroe25
June 25th, 2012
10:11 pm
We have to stop this ‘growth at any cost’ mentality with regard to air service now. The idea that Atlanta will suffer without more and better air service is completely ludicrous, and is borne by a complete lack of understanding with the workings of commercial aviation.
More than 70 percent of all air traffic into and out of Hartsfield consists of passengers just changing planes. The connecting traffic generates the critical mass necessary to sustain the massive flight complex in Atlanta, and in turn, create a substantial economic benefit for this city.
A second airport at Briscoe – or anywhere else – would do nothing to support the hub, whether it’s Delta’s or Southwest’s. It would in fact, harm the attractiveness of the hub by diverting the small local traffic pool elsewhere.
Want to know what the ramifications of weakening the hub are? Check with friends in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis about what happens when a hub goes away or is weakened. Flight schedules are cut dramatically, nonstop flights are restricted to only other hub cities, and businesses looking for new locations look elsewhere.
We may like the idea of multiple carriers offering multiple flights to a range of exotic destinations. But the harsh economic reality of commercial aviation is that unless you are a New York or a Los Angeles – and Atlanta is not – that kind of pie in the sky air structure will never exist.
The airline business is a tough, tough business. Atlanta has prospered with Hartsfield, and everything should go to preserving that asset, not weakening it. Just look at the massive local and federal investment that has been made over the years for noise mitigation; do you really want to start that process all over again in Gwinnett County?
Get real folks; Atlanta’s airport is busy because people from Des Moines going to Tampa have to connect somewhere. They could connect anywhere – but let’s make certain we do everything possible to ensure that that connection takes place here.
nmonroe25
June 25th, 2012
10:15 pm
Macon? Are you serious? Under what economic scenario would it make sense to put an airport an hour away from the main hub? A train to Macon???? So, you’ll fly to Macon, get on a train and connect in Atlanta?
It’s this kind of idiotic, unrealistic, uneconomic thought that is creating a culture where it’s okay to run up our national debt by $5 trillion and get nothing in return.
DeborahinAthens
June 26th, 2012
6:30 am
If we had a coherent and convenient rapid transit system from the burbs to the airport like every other major city, the traffic issue would disappear. It is so nice to fly in to NYC, PHiladelphia, Chicago and SFO. No need for a car in any of this cities. It is a quick and inexpensive train ride into the metro areas from the airport. From the center of the cities,one can go virtually anywhere. If you take MARTA into Alanta, where can you go? No where. Because of the politics of Atlanta in the past 70 years, we have screwed ourselves royally. The Good ‘ol Boys system that gave massive compensation to the people at the DOT made a lot of individuals very, very wealthy at the expense of the people of the region. The phrase that comes to mind is that we have been hoisted by our own pitard. I have no clue what a pitard is, but being hoisted by one sounds painful. And that’s where we are.
Out by the Pond
June 26th, 2012
7:04 am
Deborahinathens
Don’t forget DC. Love to visit that city, no car needed. Remember Marta’s development was for the benefit of Dick Rich’s flagship store at Five Points.
A Macon airport and connecting Macon/Atlanta train was a joke.
Road Scholar
June 26th, 2012
8:28 am
Macon? The majority of users of Hartsfield are north of I 20! Macon growing? In their minds maybe!
The chances of a second airport that will take some of the load from Hartsfield is slim to none. Not only the NIMBY’s (Not In My Back Yard) will come out of the woodwork , but also the BANANA’s (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) will descend like a hoard of locusts. The politicians would bend their way.
On the other hand, people who bought a home near an airport should have their heads examined. What did they think would happen? No growth? No noise? No commerce and changes in land use? Just because of you and your purchase? Airports are like major roads. As my mom said, don’t ever buy a house on a road that has a painted centerline! It WILL be widened someday!
Rail /transit expansion to the north is a necessity, esp for the airport. But something needs to be done with security checkpoints to reduce the delay there, esp under peak periods of use.
atlmom
June 26th, 2012
9:07 am
NYC? you’re not serious. there is no good way to get to the city from the airport. Yes, there is some subway that goes there, but good luck taking it – usually one has to switch once or twice to get where one wants…and that’s not usually feasible…so one has to take a cab for $50.
Great.
That is one of the ONLY great things about Atlanta’s mass transit system – it actually GOES to the airport and it’s easy to use – my family uses it all the time to go to the airport or to have people come to a local stop for us to pick them up when they’re coming to visit.
weary traveler
June 26th, 2012
9:15 am
It is user fees and airline funds that fund commercial airports, not taxes. The amount of ignorance over the years concerning commercial service is appalling.
In the eighties, a group headed by a Delta pilot espoused that everyone in Gwinnett would be negatively impacted by the addition of air service, and those in favor were liars. Children would not learn as well, the hospitals and churches impacted, home values to zero. They designed elaborate drawing boards that if Gwinnett were Hartsfield, there would be Delta jets flying twenty five hundred feet above every home from Buckhead to Macon.
Not one Gwinnettian had the presence of mind to think, “wait, if you’re destroying all these communities you are flying to, how is it you are still in business, and how much are you paying in damages?”
Two decades ago, Gwinnett was led by people who wanted it to have the best school system, best park system, best libraries, best transportation system, best quality of life, and were so successful in it that, we were the fastest growing large county in the nation, and nationally revered. Because of an inappropriate lavishly trip to New York, which saved the county millions in interest payments, the resulting turmoil began a throw the bums out mentality.
This has been the major theme of every election held since, probably since 1800. No one seems to understand how these bums get into office, since everyone is running on restoring integrity and honesty
Personally, I would not vote to congress someone with honesty and integrity, because he/she would be eaten alive by the other 400 some odd, that aren’t. I want a scrapper.
The truth is Gwinnett is not ready to be autonomous and needs to remain dependent on Atlanta. But a day will come when it has to.
nelson howard
June 26th, 2012
10:16 am
Well, it is a cut and dried case. Atlanta needs 2 airports. However, the way to go is for Briscoe, rather than having small and medium sized jet service, what is needed is service for the AirBus A-380SP. It has a flight range of 8,000nm, a flight speed of 500nm per hour and a capacity of 700 passengers. Atlanta has to maintain world class service with the world’s largest panes. How you do it is this, get a great basketball player from China to play for the local team. Planes will becoming in non stop with big spenders. They are “golfing nuts” in China, they will be coming in non stop to play golf at Atlanta and Myrtle Beach. Take the initiative, think large, it is the wave of the future. The FAA will pay 90% for construction, the rest comes from casino gambling which will bring in money[a lot], plus a deep water por at Savannah.
T-Square
June 26th, 2012
10:51 am
I would be in favor of seeing McCollum Field turned into a commercial airport. It is already growing at a rapid pace and would catch all the traffic from the NW pretty easily. That being said, Atlanta already has two back-up airports, one in Chattanooga and one in Birmingham.
too little time
June 26th, 2012
11:11 am
737 traffic into Briscoe would ruin the quality of life for a 10 mile radius (or more) around Briscoe. People who purchased houses there expected small plane traffic. They did not buy there expecting 24/7 commercial 737 jet traffic. No one here has mentioned that HUGE degradation of quality of life for tens of thousands of people who live in the area.
The ability to turn Briscoe into Atlanta’s second airport has long passed. Zoning changes would have needed to be put into place in the early 90’s to prevent the population build-up in proposed flight paths. But Gwinnett was too hell-bent on developing every inch of the county to leave undeveloped corridors emanating from the airport. Gwinnett chose the development it wanted , and its a bit too late to impose the jet noise of Atlanta’s second airport over that now.
Frequent Nontraveler
June 26th, 2012
11:29 am
Macons herbert Smart (downtown) Airport? Not unless one wants to spend millions on runway expansion. Macon Municipal (Middle Ga Regional) already has most of the infrastructure in place and room to expand.
MrLiberty
June 26th, 2012
12:22 pm
The situation that has developed in Atlanta is exactly what you get when you undermine the free market with crony capitalism, protectionism, government central planning, etc.
Hartsfield-Jackson airport is the only functional airport in the region because the various mayors over the years have wanted to insure that they and they along had full control of the graft, corruption, payoffs, bribery, etc. that come with a major airport. The current criminal behavior surrounding the recent food vendor contracts is just the tip of the iceberg of corruption that has been going on for easily 50 years. Serious competition from another one or tow airports (the city could easily accomodate that many if not more), would have meant that other city mayors, county commissions, etc. would have reduced the amount of illegal money flowing into the Atlanta mayor’s pockets.
Add to that the central planning, zoning manipulation, developer bribery, etc. that has plagued Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton, DeKalb, and virtually every other major metro county and you see how these smaller airports have been kept small to the benefit of everyone but the flying public.
It is certainly hard to undo the damage that fascist government collusion with big business has caused in the region, but allowing private enterprise to deliver alternatives to the mess that is Hartsfield (on their own, with no taxpayer handouts, etc.) is certainly a step in the right direction. Had these other airports been allowed to grow naturally while there was little or no developement around them, they would be larger and thriving right now and would be delivering a great alternative to flyers in the suburbs.
Sean Smith
June 26th, 2012
2:11 pm
No more airports! We desperately need bullet trains across the south.
Don
June 26th, 2012
2:21 pm
Making Briscoe commercial is a tempest in a teapot. All it could ever be is a small airport with expensive, regional flights to serve the local businessmen. An isolated hub with a few spokes. Big whoop.
With transportation terminals, it’s almost always better to have one big one than two small ones. Better network functionality, more frequent and shorter overall trips. So, why not concentrate on connecting H-J airport better to metro Atlanta and the region? How about frequent, all day, GCT/Xpress bus service from Gwinnett to the airport. We already own the buses. How hard could it be?
HDB
June 26th, 2012
2:51 pm
The option for a second airport is clear: develop around Dobbins!! Much of what would be needed is there…..many airports share facilities with the military — Charleston, SC comes to mind…….
T-Square
June 26th, 2012
3:25 pm
Dobbins would be a great option also. Only thing you would have to build is parking and a terminal, the runway is already more than large enough and the homeowners there couldn’t really complain about the noise 737s would make coming in, cause the C-130s make a lot more.
SAWB
June 26th, 2012
3:26 pm
So, how much use does Dobbins AFB get? Could a new terminal be built on the west side of the base and commercial traffic allowed? The only problem is they might not want to rename the base after Maynard Jackson.
Carl
June 26th, 2012
4:53 pm
Who cares what the people near Briscoe Field think? For the rest of us on the northside this would allow us to skip the hellhole that is Atlanta and stop supporting the corrupt government down there. The folks who live near the airport knew it was an airport when they moved there. Build up Briscoe so those of us who aren’t on the government dole can do our business. Sell Briscoe to the highest bidder and get the government out of their way. It’s the right thing to do. Anyone who thinks different is a nannystater.
AIE
June 26th, 2012
5:50 pm
Atlanta does not need a second airport. The present one is more than good enough. Even with a sixth runway, it would be fine. It’s cleaner and more comfortable than *many* American airports.
Instead of spending that money on an airport, it should be used to upgrade Atlanta’s high-potential yet woefully underdeveloped (underdeveloped) rail system. Lower Cobb County, western Fulton County, and the Northeast Expressway Corridor all need heavy rail access. The problem is that the state is run by pinheads who live in the 19th century and just don’t see how funding rail will increase the *state’s* tax revenues. Rural Georgia screws Urban Georgia 100% of the time.
Who, if they lived in Marietta or Smyrna or Lawrenceville or Stone Moutain, would choose to drive 25 miles in Atlanta traffic to the airport when they could take a train, pay $6 round trip, leave the driving to someone else and be done? Given that choice, and the rising gas prices (it will never be below $2 again in your lifetime), rail transit it a no-brainer… unless you are from one of the other 100+ counties that are still coping with the advent of electricity and computers.
Burroughston Broch
June 26th, 2012
8:22 pm
The City of Atlanta for decades has owned two 10,000 acre parcels of property for a second airport – one in Dawson County to the north and the other in Paulding County to the west. Each parcel is more than twice the size of Hartsfield’s 4700 acres.
If a second airport is needed, it would make far more sense to properly develop one of these than to shoehorn commercial traffic into Briscoe Field.
And, by the way, where is that second Boston Airport? The closest commercial airport to Logan is TW Brown at Providence, over 50 miles away.
T-Square
June 27th, 2012
10:35 am
Burroughston Broch – So 50 miles is too far for you to consider it a second airport? Wouldn’t that come pretty close to excluding both of the alternate sites you’ve listed?