A company that updates avionics

controls in commuter jets may still relocate to Peachtree City's

Falcon Field.

For the past several months,

representatives of Chippewa Aerospace have haggled with Falcon Field

officials to seek incentives for locating at

the "Hunting" facility, which has been vacant for years and

is located off airport property.

To have airport access, Chippewa will need to pay through-the-fence

fees and the authority has decided not to discount the fees as previously

requested by Chippewa.

Thus, Chippewa will pay roughly $1,000 a month based on the fees, which

are assessed based on square footage of the building and apron area that

can be used for aviation purposes.

Although there is no additional

incentive, it was noted that the previous tenant paid between $13,000

and $15,000 a month based on the current

lease for the building. Those figures were calculated by a different

system that the airport formerly used exclusively: charging 2 percent

of a businesses' gross revenues.

Allowing Chippewa to use the new fee calculations and save a tremendous

amount of money is enough of an incentive, said authority chairwoman

Cathy Nelmes.

"This is our standard through-the-fence agreement," Nelmes

said.

Several minor additions to

the agreement will be bartered between Chippewa representatives and

airport manager John Crosby before the authority's

June 2 meeting.

Chippewa services Canadair Regional Jets and Embraer Regional Jets with

50-, 70- and 90-seat models. The company also outfits Braeisilia turbo

prop planes.

The company has contracts to service planes for U.S. Airways Express,

Mesa Airlines and SkyWest.

The company anticipates having 35-40 employees to start with and working

toward a capacity for 80 employees eventually.