Thrifty Car

Rental's days at Falcon Field are history.

The

Peachtree City Airport Authority voted at last week's

regular meeting to terminate the airport's agreement with

Thrifty and issue a request for proposals for a new

rental car provider, with airside customers a priority.

The airport

would have to give Thrifty 30 days notice, according to

airport manager Jim Savage, and he would do that as soon

as possible.

He actually

did it the next day, and Thrifty decided to remove its

cars immediately, Savage told The Citizen earlier this

week.

Savage said

that the car rental counter takes too much of his staff's

time at the most inopportune moments, often simply due to

answering the Thrifty phone when airside customers are in

need of assistance.

Since an

average of one car a day was being rented by airport

customers and about a dozen a day by other walk-in

customers, it was considered a poor investment for the

airport.

Savage also

reported that Thrifty has not paid the airport on time,

and he has often been unsuccessful in his attempts to

reach a representative of the company.

The airport

has been in discussions with Enterprise Rent-a-Car about

leasing space away from the main terminal, out of the way

of the airport staff, and keeping only one or two cars on

site for airside customers.

Authority

chairman Robert Patterson indicated he was in favor of a

change.

"I'm

just one vote, but I'm ready to cut the strings on

Thrifty," he said. "I'm ready to let some

others have a shot at this."

Patterson

pointed out that Thrifty had agreed to pay the airport a

10 percent cut of its take at Falcon Field, then simply

raised its rates 10 percent to cover that cost, which did

not sit well with the chairman.

Authority

member Catherine Nelmes said she thought it was a good

idea to issue a generic request for proposals and

"see what people offer."

Other local

car rental agencies and several auto dealerships will

likely be considered before a decision is made.

Savage said

Tuesday that the RFP will be somewhat broad, allowing

prospective suppliers to tell him what the best way to

operate might be, rather than Falcon Field making

concrete stipulations on staffing and other matters up

front.

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