Could the Columbus Metropolitan Airport Serve as Atlanta's 2nd Airport? (Warner Robins: distance, place)

[NewtownMacon]

Originally Posted by flyonpa

Macon has not been able to draw enough traffic to/from there airport to operate without Essential Air Service (EAS) program funds. (They lost that status in 2014),

There is currently No Airline service to Macon..

Thats because the only service that has been offered was to/ from Atlanta, There is no market to fly to/from ATL because of proximity; the Market Demand is to other locations.

[cwkimbro]

Newtown,


Any connection to a major hub is good for Macon, even Atlanta. Whether it is Atlanta, Charlotte, or Dallas has more to do with what airline serves Macon, not Macon's demand to fly to that one location.

You need to look at it in reverse. If you're a business traveler how do you get to Macon?

Fly from Chicago to Atlanta and connect to Macon and a taxi is doable(example, of course).

That is far better than fly from Chicago, rent a car in ATL and drive for several hours.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Newtown,


Any connection to a major hub is good for Macon, even Atlanta. Whether it is Atlanta, Charlotte, or Dallas has more to do with what airline serves Macon, not Macon's demand to fly to that one location.

You need to look at it in reverse. If you're a business traveler how do you get to Macon?

Fly from Chicago to Atlanta and connect to Macon and a taxi is doable(example, of course).

That is far better than fly from Chicago, rent a car in ATL and drive for several hours.

College Station has connecting flights just to DFW and IAH and it's invaluable. Especially to DFW because of the distance. I believe it's United going to IAH and American Eagle (part of AA) to DFW. I've done both before. I've done both before and if you can spare the money it's certainly much more convenient than finding some other mode of transportation.

College Station is only a little bit farther from Houston than Macon is from Atlanta so that's actually pretty comparable. Flight was maybe over half an hour. Within 10 minutes of takeoff you could see Houston burbs. It seems like a ridiculously short flight but as a connecting flight it's wonderful.

[oobanks]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

College Station has connecting flights just to DFW and IAH and it's invaluable. Especially to DFW because of the distance. I believe it's United going to IAH and American Eagle (part of AA) to DFW. I've done both before. I've done both before and if you can spare the money it's certainly much more convenient than finding some other mode of transportation.

College Station is only a little bit farther from Houston than Macon is from Atlanta so that's actually pretty comparable. Flight was maybe over half an hour. Within 10 minutes of takeoff you could see Houston burbs. It seems like a ridiculously short flight but as a connecting flight it's wonderful.

That may be the case, but believe it or not most people for some reason just prefer to drive into Macon from Atl Airport due to the short distance and Freeway convenience. For some reason they see no need to do that connecting flight, not sure if it's the extra connection flight cost or what. Believe me I know plenty of people that do it for business or otherwise. Macon is so close to Atlanta only Flights to other cities would make a difference in the Macon Market. It's almost as if Macon is looked at more as an exurban city of Atlanta but a city of it's own.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by oobanks

That may be the case, but believe it or not most people for some reason just prefer to drive into Macon from Atl Airport due to the short distance and Freeway convenience. For some reason they see no need to do that connecting flight, not sure if it's the extra connection flight cost or what. Believe me I know plenty of people that do it for business or otherwise. Macon is so close to Atlanta only Flights to other cities would make a difference in the Macon Market. It's almost as if Macon is looked at more as an exurban city of Atlanta but a city of it's own.

Those are some excellent points about people just driving to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport from Macon because Macon is so relatively very close to HJIA and about Macon almost being viewed as more of an exurban city of Atlanta than as a city of its own.

The distance and relationship between Macon and Atlanta in the state of Georgia is somewhat very similar to the distance and relationship between Rockford and Chicago in the state of Illinois.

With a population of about 150,000 people, Rockford is Illinois' 3rd-largest city (at one time Rockford was Illinois' 2nd-largest city) and is only about 75 miles or so from Chicago O'Hare International Airport which is still one of the absolute busiest airports on the entire planet.

Like Macon is only about 80 miles or so from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and people driving from Macon to Atlanta have to drive right past HJIA/ATL on the way into Atlanta on Interstate 75 Northbound, people driving from Rockford to Chicago have to drive right past ORD (Chicago O'Hare International Airport) on the way into Chicago on Interstate 90 Eastbound.

Even though Rockford is only about 88 miles or so from Downtown Chicago and even though Chicagoland has extensive regional passenger rail transit service (METRA regional commuter rail service and the Midwestern Amtrak hub for multiple interstate passenger rail routes), like with Macon and Atlanta, there currently is no regional passenger rail transit service connecting Rockford and Chicago.

The lack of a dependable passenger rail transit connection between Rockford (metro 344,000) and Chicago (metro 9.6 million) has had a negative effect on Rockford which has suffered significant population declines and stagnation over much of the last 45 years or so.

(...Rockford has not had a direct passenger rail connection to Chicago since 1981 when Amtrak discontinued the Black Hawk passenger rail route through Rockford.)

Like Macon gets sucked into the orbit of an ever-expanding and increasingly-dominant Atlanta metro region, because it is only about 88 miles from Downtown Chicago, Rockford was long ago involuntarily sucked into the orbit of the even more dominant Chicagoland area, being considered somewhat of an exurban bedroom community of Chicago without getting the direct benefit of actually being an exurban bedroom community of Chicago.

At about only 84 miles from Downtown Atlanta (and being only about 45 miles from the outskirts of the Atlanta metro region), Macon is a town that seems to be viewed by many as being an exurban bedroom community of an increasingly dominant Atlanta metro region without getting the benefit of actually being an exurban bedroom community of Atlanta.

Just the fact that so many Macon area (and Middle Georgia area) residents drive to Atlanta use the world-leading Atlanta Airport when they travel by air makes an excellent argument for why Macon (and Middle Georgia) should most likely be connected to the Atlanta area by way of high-quality regional passenger rail service.

[aries4118]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicag...rt?wprov=sfsi1

[oobanks]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Those are some excellent points about people just driving to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport from Macon because Macon is so relatively very close to HJIA and about Macon almost being viewed as more of an exurban city of Atlanta than as a city of its own.

The distance and relationship between Macon and Atlanta in the state of Georgia is somewhat very similar to the distance and relationship between Rockford and Chicago in the state of Illinois.

With a population of about 150,000 people, Rockford is Illinois' 3rd-largest city (at one time Rockford was Illinois' 2nd-largest city) and is only about 75 miles or so from Chicago O'Hare International Airport which is still one of the absolute busiest airports on the entire planet.

Like Macon is only about 80 miles or so from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and people driving from Macon to Atlanta have to drive right past HJIA/ATL on the way into Atlanta on Interstate 75 Northbound, people driving from Rockford to Chicago have to drive right past ORD (Chicago O'Hare International Airport) on the way into Chicago on Interstate 90 Eastbound.

Even though Rockford is only about 88 miles or so from Downtown Chicago and even though Chicagoland has extensive regional passenger rail transit service (METRA regional commuter rail service and the Midwestern Amtrak hub for multiple interstate passenger rail routes), like with Macon and Atlanta, there currently is no regional passenger rail transit service connecting Rockford and Chicago.

The lack of a dependable passenger rail transit connection between Rockford (metro 344,000) and Chicago (metro 9.6 million) has had a negative effect on Rockford which has suffered significant population declines and stagnation over much of the last 45 years or so.

(...Rockford has not had a direct passenger rail connection to Chicago since 1981 when Amtrak discontinued the Black Hawk passenger rail route through Rockford.)

Like Macon gets sucked into the orbit of an ever-expanding and increasingly-dominant Atlanta metro region, because it is only about 88 miles from Downtown Chicago, Rockford was long ago involuntarily sucked into the orbit of the even more dominant Chicagoland area, being considered somewhat of an exurban bedroom community of Chicago without getting the direct benefit of actually being an exurban bedroom community of Chicago.

At about only 84 miles from Downtown Atlanta (and being only about 45 miles from the outskirts of the Atlanta metro region), Macon is a town that seems to be viewed by many as being an exurban bedroom community of an increasingly dominant Atlanta metro region without getting the benefit of actually being an exurban bedroom community of Atlanta.

Just the fact that so many Macon area (and Middle Georgia area) residents drive to Atlanta use the world-leading Atlanta Airport when they travel by air makes an excellent argument for why Macon (and Middle Georgia) should most likely be connected to the Atlanta area by way of high-quality regional passenger rail service.

This is so True, this is also a reason I'm sure it will be included in the ATLANTA / ATHENS CSA before long... Even commuting patterns are there. I know people that drive back and forth to work daily between both Cities.

[Columbus1999]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Dobbins is the best/ideal choice for Atlanta's second airport.

http://www.atlanta-airport.com/docs/...iveSummary.pdf





Martin Luther King, Jr. Atlanta International Airport

Columbus is a lot closer than Dobbins also a larger population center and a military airport cannot serve as a civilian airport.

[flyonpa]

Originally Posted by Columbus1999

Columbus is a lot closer than Dobbins also a larger population center and a military airport cannot serve as a civilian airport.

Tell that to the people in Charleston (and a number of other cities) that share a airport, Military on one side of the field, Civilian on the other. In Fact Charleston has a Major Boeing civilian Airplane assembly plant on the filed.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by Columbus1999

Columbus is a lot closer than Dobbins also a larger population center and a military airport cannot serve as a civilian airport.

In what universe is Columbus "a lot closer than Dobbins" to Atlanta?

From downtown:

Dobbins Air Reserve Base - 17 miles
Columbus - 107 miles

From HJIA:

Dobbins Air Reserve Base - 26 miles
Columbus - 100 miles

As far as which one is "a larger population center," why not look at the raw data within a 25 mile radius of each place:

https://www.freemaptools.com/find-population.htm

Dobbins Air Reserve Base - 1,494,689
Columbus - 287,515