County commissioners give the green light on expanding and upgrading the Cobb County International Airport-McCollum Field to accommodate growing demand.

“Currently, the airport is at 100% occupancy [this] reduces our ability to accommodate economic growth,” Cobb County Department of Transportation Deputy Director Karl Von Hagel tells WSB’s Jonathan O’Brien.

The full project includes a new 6,500-square-foot terminal along with 65,000 square feet of hangar space. The airport’s operator Hawthorne Global Aviation Services, will cover the entire $30 million cost of the improvements. Under the terms of the new agreement, the terminal is to be completed by June 2025, but the full improvement project has until 2040 to be finished.

Von Hagel says most metro municipal airports lack space for new planes. He believes the new hangar spaces will make the airport, and subsequently the county, more desirable for businesses who need a place for their private jet. “It will be the first impression of Cobb County that people have when they get off the airplane, and they’re visiting our community,” he says.

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