Published Thursday, November 20, 2008

Contracts signed for Falcon Aviation project at airport

By Jeff Bishop

The Newnan Times-Herald

Contracts for grading and building the new Falcon Aviation Academy at Newnan-Coweta Airport are now signed, project manager Lou Williams told the Coweta Airport Authority this week.

"We're going to take the permits to the county this week," said Williams. "We're hoping to have the official groundbreaking in December."

Occupancy of the building should come "probably in July," Williams said.

He asked airport authority members what they thought of the color "Aztec Blue" for the hangar.

"The whole building will be in blue," Williams said. "Hopefully we'll have a really good color that won't fade."

Airport Authority Chairman Dale Pepper said he hopes "the weather will cooperate" during the winter construction.

Falcon Aviation Academy announced in recent weeks that it is relocating its headquarters from Peachtree City to the Newnan-Coweta Airport.

The flight school will have about 60 employees, to start, and will be relocating 47 aircraft, an aircraft maintenance company, and its large flight and charter schools to Coweta County.

The company will train 144 pilots per year from six Chinese airlines, in addition to other clients.

The company has locations at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, Athens-Ben Epps, and LaGrange-Callaway, in addition to Newnan and Peachtree City.

Falcon Aviation Academy began in 1999 as Griffin Flight School. One year later, it moved to its current location at the Falcon Field Airport.

Falcon's parent company, Falcon Air Services, operates Falcon Aviation Academy, Falcon Air Charter, and Falcon Aviation Maintenance in coordination to provide a full services flight operation.