The Peachtree

City Airport Authority wants to bank heavily on bringing jet plane business

to Falcon Field.

The authority

hopes it will make more money selling fuel to jet operators than it could

leasing out parcels in Hangar Area B to other groups. The numbers presented

at the authority's meeting Wednesday night showed that the authority could

pull in a greater profit selling a minimum 2,000 gallons of jet fuel per

month to an operator rather than renting those areas out at the highest

lease rates that have been discussed.

So the authority

wants to offer free leases to jet operators who agree to purchase a minimum

of 2,000 gallons a month of jet fuel from the airport.

And 2,000 gallons

of jet fuel is a very small number compared to what some operations actually

use, said Airport Authority Chairman David Good.

The highest

monthly rent the authority has considered for the hangar area would bring

in $977 a month. But selling a minimum of 2,000 gallons of jet fuel would

bring in an additional $522 a month.

Of course,

the more jet fuel sold, the more the authority's profit margin would increase.

If an operation purchases 5,000 gallons a month, the authority would make

$1,772 more than if it leased the parcel to another operator.

Good said the

authority could guarantee competitive prices for jet fuel as long as it

"built in" the needed profit margins to the fuel price.

The authority

also considered the possibility that another company could want to come

in and take over the airport's fueling operation. If that happened, the

authority's compensation would be negotiated, Good pointed out.

After a detailed

discussion, the authority voted unanimously to prepare a marketing campaign

to attract the jet-based operators using the no-rent, minimum fuel purchase

scenario. The price quotes on developing brochures will be discussed at

the authority's next meeting.

In other business,

the authority re-appointed Good as chairman and H.E. Buffington as secretary.

The authority

also briefly reviewed its newly-revised master plan, which will be up

for official adoption at the authority's February meeting.