Former airport chief promotes Cobb airport's services, successes and expansion plans

KENNESAW — The former manager at Cobb County International Airport — McCollum Field, Karl Von Hagel, spoke Thursday about the county’s airport, how it supports economic development, and the plans in place to make it an even bigger destination for corporate air travel in the region.

The keynote speaker at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Cobb Area Council meeting, Von Hagel served as airport manager from 1993 until his promotion this year to deputy director of the Cobb County Department of Transportation.

“Karl has overseen the transformation of Cobb County International Airport from a small regional runway to a global corporate airport,” said Alex Almodovar, assistant to Acworth’s city manager, in his introduction of Von Hagel.

Airport services

To introduce Cobb’s airport, Von Hagel noted that it is more than just a take-off and landing spot for planes. In addition to its primary function as an aircraft hub, McCollum Field also offers law enforcement and Life Flight medical services, a restaurant, and a park for children.

In a room full of businesspeople, Von Hagel stressed the private charter opportunities offered by the airport.

“Yes, chartering an aircraft is an expensive ordeal, but sometimes you weigh the benefit with the costs, depending on how badly you would like to see somebody, or whatever business deal has a time constraint on it,” said Von Hagel. “If your credit card is big enough, come on out, we’ll take you where you need to go.”

Notable growth

Located in the Kennesaw area, nestled between Old Highway 41 and McCollum Parkway, McCollum Field has grown to be Georgia’s fifth-busiest airport in 2021.

Since he began working there in 1993, Von Hagel has seen the airport go from a “country airport,” as he called it, with only one airplane powered by jet fuel, into a regional hub that boasts more than 65 aircraft using jet fuel. While the airport housed the same number of planes in 1993 as it does now (300), today’s aircraft are far bigger than the mostly single-engine planes it held nearly three decades ago.

When Von Hagel arrived at McCollum Field, the airport’s economic impact in dollars, as he explained to the attendees of the meeting, was $11.2 million. In 2020, the airport supported $129 million worth of economic activity. Von Hagel posed a stark image of what would happen were McCollum Field to disappear.

“If the airport goes away, the Board of Commissioners decides to stop supporting the airport, shuts it down, $129 million of economic activity goes away,” said Von Hagel. “On top of that, almost 1,000 jobs will disappear from our community.”

While it is constrained in the land it can used based on its location, McCollum Field boasts the longest runway of any general aviation airport, which is defined as having less than 2,500 passenger boardings annually or no scheduled commercial air service, in metro Atlanta.

Potential for more

There are three areas, according to Von Hagel, that the airport hopes to focus on as it seeks further growth: building out its existing capacity, improving existing conditions at the airport, and expanding the market it services.

“The Board of Commissioners just approved a couple months ago a new lease agreement to construct 65,000 square feet more of hangar,” Von Hagel said.

Von Hagel stressed that the bill will not fall to taxpayers, as “we generate all the revenue we need.”

Additionally, Von Hagel told the audience that improving conditions already in place at the airport would be a necessity. That would include refreshing both the control tower, which was updated six years ago but which Von Hagel says the airport has already outgrown, and McCollum Field’s terminal building, which “is not terrible now, it’s just OK,” said Von Hagel.

Finally, McCollum Field added a Customs and Border Control section to account for international flights coming directly to the airport.

“We’ve got arrivals from all over the world,” said Von Hagel, who noted that the farthest flight came all the way from Namibia, in southern Africa.

Speaking about near-term opportunities, Von Hagel noted that the MLB All-Star game moving out of Atlanta was a big miss for McCollum Field. The World Series last year resulted in busier-than-usual weekday service, but was not the boom for the airport they would have liked.

“The Super Bowl ended up being a boon for us,” said Von Hagel, who also expressed excitement about the prospects of growth that could come from the 2026 World Cup, for which Atlanta will be a host city. The airport was full throughout the time that Super Bowl festivities were held in Atlanta, and this was accompanied by a marketing campaign that Von Hagel believes resulted in real growth for the airport.

“The Super Bowl was a peak in our activity, then we kind of went back down to normal,” said Von Hagel. “But shortly after, our new normal now exceeds the Super Bowl activity.”

Rusty Phillips, a Kennesaw resident since 1984 and a financial services representative, came to the area council meeting specifically to hear about the airport.

“There’s been so much growth in the Kennesaw-Acworth area that this airport has been a lot to help where people don’t have to go to Atlanta or Peachtree-DeKalb [airport],” said Phillips. “If you can keep it local, keep it local. I wish I had a plane out there.”

Holly Quinlan, president and CEO of Cobb Travel and Tourism, echoed Phillips in her appreciation for McCollum Field.

“The airport is a really critical part of our community, definitely from an economic development perspective,” said Quinlan. “The quality of life that it can bring to our community, it makes a difference, so to learn about the airport and its impact on our community is important.”