Athens-Ben Epps Airport getting interest from two air carriers (Douglas: 2014, authority)

[Airforceguy]

Still not ready to specifically identify the air carriers publicly at Tuesday’s airport authority meeting, Beggerly referred to them as “Airline A” and “Airline B.”

One of those air carrier operations, which has ticketing agreements with other airlines, was recently purchased by a major airline, according to Beggerly. He would not identify the airline that purchased the carrier, other than to say it isn’t one of the so-called “legacy airlines” — American, Delta, United, Hawaiian Airlines or Alaska Airlines — but Beggerly did say the airline that purchased the carrier is “a name everybody would recognize.”

Talks with this carrier, according to information from Tuesday’s authority meeting, have centered on which airport “hub” it would use for its service from Athens. According to Beggerly, the local preference would be for service to Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte-Douglas International Airport is the second-largest hub for American Airlines, and is also served by Air Canada, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Southwest, United and ViaAir.

The other air carrier expressing some interest in Athens has been in the charter service business for years, and has access to a gate at Newark Liberty International Airport. The New Jersey airport is about 15 miles from midtown Manhattan, and flights from Athens to New York would align with the results of a 2014 study of the airline market in the Athens area by Oregon-based Sixel Consulting Group.

Athens-Ben Epps Airport getting interest from two air carriers | Online Athens