Published Thursday, November 06, 2008

Flight school moving to Newnan-Coweta Airport

The Times-Herald

Falcon Aviation Academy will be relocating its headquarters from Peachtree City to the Newnan-Coweta Airport, the Coweta County Development Authority announced.

"We just got a call this morning from Dan Waters, the president of the company," said Brenda Washington, executive assistant for the development authority at the authority's meeting Thursday morning. "They will be moving their entire headquarters from Peachtree City to Newnan."

Development Authority President Bill Harrison said the Coweta County Airport Authority is getting "very aggressive" when it comes to marketing its available land to industries and businesses. The airport authority recently printed a new brochure to market its 30 acres, which are now graded and "ready for development."

The flight school has already purchased five acres of land at the Newnan-Coweta Airport. The new headquarters will be close to the current Thomas Enterprises operation.

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.

"Falcon Aviation Academy is a leader in standardized airline-quality pilot training," said Waters. "Our curriculums are designed for performance, safety and career advancement.

"Knowledge and skills along with disciplined management result in a pilot trained for global aviation challenges," he said. "For the student willing to make the effort, Falcon Aviation will produce a pilot capable of becoming an aviation leader in the future."

The company will train 144 pilots per year from six Chinese airlines, in addition to other clients, they said. A groundbreaking has been planned for later in the month.

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.

In 2002, a complete fleet upgrade led to the school's current collection of Diamond aircraft. The Diamond aircraft offers superior performance, avionic and cockpit visibility compared to any other training type of aircraft, the company states.

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.