Mathews: Airport primed for growth
No one is more eager for the completion of a 1,000-foot extension to the runway at Richard B. Russell Regional Airport than Airport Manager Mike Mathews.
The extension, which now appears to be set for construction in 2018, may be one of the biggest economic development boons for Floyd County, he said
Mathews has been working for the past 20 years to upgrade the airport, with a lot of help from the Floyd County Airport Commission.
Mathews was always interested in aviation and learned to fly in Rome. He took a job as a lineman at the airport from 1980 to 1983.
He later worked for a series of small regional airlines in South Carolina, Tennessee and Atlanta, however all three ultimately filed for bankruptcy.
It was about that time that the airport commissioners in Rome were looking for a new general manager and a couple of the commission members recalled Mathews from his earlier days at the airport. A couple of conversations later and Mathews was named airport manager in 1997.
At that point, Mathews turned his focus to the economic development potential for the airport.
“It (the airport) really had changed much since those early days when I was learning to fly,” Mathews said. Over the last 20 years, Mathews has presided over a lot of changes, but the largest change is still a progress in the works.
Mathews anticipates the 1,000-foot runway extension will be a game changer for the airport in many years. He believes it will help attract industry, not just to the airport, but also to the community at large.
Companies that have corporate jets often require 7,000 feet for safety reasons.
He recalls a number of years ago when he was very optimistic that a company would relocate to approximately 125 acres on the east side of the airport, however the lack of a runway the company could land its jets on ultimately was a factor in not landing the deal.
Mathews also said having the additional 1,000 feet on the main runway should translate to additional fuel sales.
He said pilots would feel more comfortable taking on more fuel, (more weight) with the additional footage to bring an aircraft up to speed for takeoff. Again, he recalls an incident where a pilot saw the number of people and Richard B. Russell Regional Airport Manager Mike Mathews reviews a long-range planning document for the airport.
The yellow outlined section in this photo shows an area on the Richard B. Russell Regional Airport property that has been designated as a potential industrial site.
Richard B. Russell Regional Airport Manager Mike Mathews (from left), Jamie Jordan and Earl Tillman check out the engine in Jordan’s 70-year-old Piper J3.
cargo he was being asked to fly out of Rome and came to Mathews asking about the runway length. The pilot calculated he needed at least 6,000 feet, which was available and it turned out he needed virtually every foot of it to get into the air.
“I had a couple pilots watching here from the terminal and they were all shouting pull it up, pull it up and he finally Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune
made it,” Mathews said.
The 7,000 foot runway means the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, who will headline the 2017 Wings Over North Georgia Air Show, will be able to land on the existing runway at the airport in the future. Mathews is anticipating a significant increase in fuel sales thanks to their appearance. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds were based at Dobbins in Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune
Marietta when they performed during the 2016 show.
The Blue Angels will be in Rome for several days, not only rehearsing and performing for the show, but the team will also be making school visits and other promotional appearances to boost the show.
During Mathews’ 20 years at Russell Regional, the airport has put down a lot of asphalt. The main runway has been repaved and grooved, which is important for wet weather landing. The secondary runway is slated for an overlay in the very near future.
The number of tie downs for smaller aircraft has been expanded greatly. “It used to be we could tie down six small planes and maybe as many as four jets,” Mathews said. “Now we’ve got enough space to put down about 50 aircraft.” During the interview for this story a pilot landed and inquired about tie down space for as much as three months.
“Bring him on in,” Mathews said.
Mathews said the existence of the Aviation Maintenance and Avionics program run by Georgia Northwestern Technical College has served as impetus for more work at the airport.
An Appalachian Regional Commission grant of $300,000 has helped with a number of infrastructure improvement projects on the north side of terminal where Mathews would like to land aircraft related industries. “It doesn’t have to be huge, just some kind of niche company in the aviation industry,” Mathews said.
“We’ve built a lot of hangars, T-hangars and also some corporate hangars,” Mathews said, He’s in the process of trying to convince county leaders of the need for a larger corporate hangar. Being able to hangar an aircraft is also an insurance issue because many companies don’t want aircraft exposed to elements overnight.
Mathews said combining a large new corporate hangar with a speculative industrial building is an idea he is also pitching to community officials.
“People would really take notice,” Mathews said. “If we build one and lease or sell it, then we could build another. Most of them don’t want to take the time and money to build their own building, so if we’ve got one they’re going to come.”