Atlanta airports are ready for FIFA’s private jets. Are they coming?
Metro Atlanta’s general aviation airports have been preparing for the FIFA World Cup for years.
There was talk that the eight local matches would amount to “eight Super Bowls,” said Hunter Hines, director at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) in Chamblee.
In 2019, nearly 1,600 private jets descended onto Atlanta’s airports for Super Bowl LIII.
But weeks out from the much-anticipated first June 15 FIFA match in Atlanta, “we’re not seeing anything to even remotely show that,” Hines said.
Only the more-anticipated knockout July matches have seen a small amount of reservations, he said.
Of course, that could change, especially with the kind of traveler that can book a private jet and buy a last-minute ticket if their team advances later in the tournament schedule.
“It’s possible that next week they could get an influx of reservations, and there’s just no way to tell,” Hines said.
But for now, he said, “we don’t expect that it is going to be some huge surge event that is going to impact any activities or anything really large scale.”
Other major sporting events that tend to draw heavy private jet travel to Georgia include the annual Masters tournament in Augusta.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber has estimated some 300,000 unique visitors could descend upon Atlanta during the city’s World Cup matches. Corporate events and well-heeled travelers are expected to bring a surge in spending to hotels, restaurants and other attractions.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last month hotel bookings for the World Cup this summer were looking soft among host cities, but a report suggested Atlanta is outperforming most of its U.S. peers.
The word he hears from operators at the airport, Hines said, is that there is a small increase of reservations on the books around the semifinal match on July 15 but not much of a spike elsewhere on the schedule yet.
“You have VIPs, and then you have what we call V-VIPs,” said Ricky Smith, general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which also has private jet traffic.
“We’re doing our best to accommodate them, but again, the solution is not just an ATL solution, it’s a regional solution.”
Smith said Hartsfield-Jackson is talking to the region’s other general aviation airports to try to be ready to handle an influx, but right now private aircraft operations remain “somewhat of an unknown,” he said.
“If there’s one wild card that makes us a little nervous, it’s that.”
Too early for private travelers
Signature Aviation offers ground support, fueling and terminal services for private and business aviation at Hartsfield-Jackson, Fulton County Executive Airport and PDK.
Clifton Adams, its Fulton County general manager, said he’s seeing a roughly 15-20% year-over-year increase in monthly reservations for June and July.
But that is nowhere near a Super Bowl, when “my reservation sheet would be four sheets long. We’re not even close to that,” he said. “We’re all predicting it might just be slightly busier than a normal day.”
Adams also cautioned that could change quickly. “It’s the unknown,” he said.
No staffers are planning to take vacations on match days, he noted.
“You know, last minute (general aviation) flyers (may) say, ‘Hey let’s go to the game, it’s exciting. We’re just going to get on our plane and go.’”
Lexy Basil, chief commercial officer of PS — a company with an Atlanta location offering a private terminal and chauffeur service to commercial flights — told the AJC in a statement the company has “not yet seen demand concentrated around any one match or moment in particular.”
She noted, however, the PS traveler tends to “travel differently than the general market. Their travel patterns tend to be more dynamic and last minute, and we would not necessarily expect those behaviors to change, even around major global events like the World Cup.”
Steven Spencer, division manager at Cobb County International Airport in Kennesaw, also said they’re “not seeing much” in terms of reservations — though the airport is starting to get more inquiries from charter companies asking about cost and available services during matches.
He thinks it’s too early.
This event is quite different from a Super Bowl, he said, when they parked 167 planes on their property.
For the first time, World Cup matches are spread across 14 host cities in three countries. Plus, the tournament’s elimination round schedule leaves open the question of which teams are playing where.
“I could see where the reservations aren’t happening because they don’t know yet,” he said.
Foreign travelers might have trouble flying to follow their team, he said, and then opt for a private plane at the last minute.
Contingency plans in place
Still, Cobb has been advertising as much as possible, he said.
They’ve reached out to all the metro area’s consulates and coordinated with the local police force to ensure they have security backup if needed.
Cobb has a unique location near a FIFA practice field at Kennesaw State University and Uzbekistan’s home base at the Atlanta United training facility, he said.
The airport has different staffing contingency plans in place if things do get busy, he said.
Areas where there will be more accessible fan experiences like downtown and the Battery “will be busy,” he predicted.
“But right now I just don’t see it at our airports. We hope to, but I just don’t see it happening right now.”
Gary Hudson, Fulton County Executive Airport’s manager, said his team is proactively changing the classification of certain taxiways to free up air traffic control bandwidth normally required to move planes on the tarmac.
An old runway has already been designated for overflow aircraft parking, and the City of South Fulton’s Fire Department will be stationed on site during match days just in case, he said.
“I know for a fact that it’s going to be more busy than normal,” he said.
“How much more busy, I’m not certain.”
About the Author
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
