2 days ago
Regional airports say they haven't been contacted about anticipated influx of flyers for World Cup
We're one year away from the FIFA World Cup matches here in Atlanta.
Fans will come in from all over the world, and while most will fly commercial, many will come in on corporate or executive jets.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber said nearly 1,600 private jets flew into metro Atlanta for the Super Bowl.
Considering each one of these matches is a potential Super Bowl, those jets have to get parked somewhere.
But so far, the airports around metro Atlanta say they haven't heard of a plan.
Matthew Smith is not only the airport division director for Gwinnett County's Briscoe Field, he's also the president of the Georgia Airport Association.
He's anticipating corporate and executive jets will fly into metro Atlanta for the big FIFA World Cup matches.
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'Those jets have to go somewhere,' Smith told Channel 2's Richard Elliot. 'We can handle quite a bit. During the Super Bowl, we had well over 50 jets here.'
The major regional airports in the Atlanta area include Fulton's Charlie Brown, DeKalb's PDK, Cobb's McCollum, Gwinnett's Briscoe and the Atlanta Speedway's airport.
Smith said, so far, the Atlanta World Cup Hosting Committee hasn't reached out to any of them, but he expects they will.
'I'm sure at some point they'll include us just to make sure we have the capacity to handle what they expect to come in on the private side,' Smith said.
Hartsfield-Jackson said it's prepared to handle some through signature and private suites, but any overflow would have to go elsewhere.
Cobb's McCollum Field right now said it's more focused on handling flights for this summer's MLB All-Star game than the World Cup, but they added, 'Airport management is currently working with local, state and federal partners to coordinate planning efforts for the upcoming significant special events.'
Smith said the regional airports are standing by to help.
'We've handled things like this before. We've had the Super Bowl. We've had the Olympics. We've had the NCAA Finals, and you know, football championships here. So, it's not something we're not used to. We typically can handle it with existing personnel and operations,' Smith said.
Smith said Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton County's regional airports all have customs agents if needed.
