The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that State Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, has backed down from his call for an immediate transfer of control of the airport over to the state. He is now just asking for the issue to be studied.
“I sponsored this resolution which would create the Senate Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Operations and Authority Creation Study Committee,” Jones said in recent newspaper op-ed. “Our airport is a key piece of Georgia’s economic development and serves as a national and international means of transportation. With the use of this facility only increasing, it is in our best interest to create an authoritative body…”
Bottoms, an alumna of Florida A&M University, has pledged to fight on to make sure that the Atlanta mayor’s office remains in charge of the airport. Her lobbying campaign against the proposed takeover received support from Democratic lawmakers and the administration of Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.
Hartsfield-Jackson has been the busiest passenger airport in the world since 1998 and is the single largest employer in the state of Georgia.