Cobb County International Airport - McCollum Field is a public
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
located northwest of the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
of
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, immediately south of the city of
Kennesaw in
Cobb County
Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, and is a core county of the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north-central portion of the state. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. It is the state's third most populous cou ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
It operates 24 hours per day, although it is not controlled between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. (
EST/EDT). It is also designated as a weather station.
The airport is located on of land,
has one
runway
In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
which is long, and is east–west oriented, with
headings of 089 and 269. Cobb Place is at the east end, with
Cobb Parkway (
U.S. 41) and old 41 intersecting McCollum Parkway on the west end. The airfield sits at
above mean sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...
somewhat above
average terrain for the area. The airport has a
control tower
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled a ...
.
The airport also has a restaurant built directly beside the runway called Elevation Chophouse & Skybar; patrons can watch aircraft take off and land from their tables.
The airport has approximately 321 aircraft based there at the end of December 2021: 212 single engine, 35 multi-engine, 61 jet aircraft, 11
helicopters
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
, and 2 glider.
[ 82 percent of operations are general aviation, 16 percent is air taxi, and 2 percent is military. No major commercial airlines service Cobb County Airport, but there are two charter companies and two major fixed-base operators.][ Aerial tours are very popular at the airport, largely because the scenic ]Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...
are less than a 30-minute flight away.
McCollum Field is owned by Cobb County, operated by the County Department of Transportation, characterizing it as a municipal airport.[ It is managed by a full-time, professional airport manager. The airport employs approximately 900 people,][ and had an annual economic impact of more than US$129 million to the local economy in 2020.
]
History
McCollum Field opened in 1960 with a single runway. There was a stub taxiway connecting the runway with the ramp area, of apron
An apron is a garment worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body to protect from liquids. They have several purposes, most commonly as a functional accessory that protects clothes and skin from stains and marks. However, other typ ...
s, and a single administration building. The airport steadily grew over the next 30 years with the greatest developments occurring in the early 1990s.
In 1991, the airport layout plan was first revised. The first full service fixed-base operator opened in 1992. A second full service fixed-base operator opened a year later. That same year, the Georgia State Patrol
The Georgia State Patrol (GSP) was established in March 1937 in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is a division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety. It is the primary state patrol agency for the U.S. state of Georgia. Al ...
Hangar was constructed. The Air Traffic Control Tower was opened in 1995, followed by an Instrument Landing System glide slope
In aviation, instrument landing system glide path, commonly referred to as a glide path (G/P) or glide slope (G/S), is "a system of vertical guidance embodied in the instrument landing system which indicates the vertical deviation of the ai ...
the next year. Over the course of the decade, there were four major purchases of new land at a total cost of US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
3.8 million in grants and an unspecified amount in local funds. In addition, 6 new hangars were built.
McCollum Field was first designed as a small field for general aviation. It is designated as a reliever airport for Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. Cobb County is also the primary general aviation airport for the Atlanta suburban population. As of 2024, it is the third most trafficked airport in Georgia with an average of 375 takeoffs and landings each day.
2008 runway
On December 4, 2008, the new wide concrete runway was opened at 13:00 local time. The runway took 23 days to complete. During the runway construction of RWY "9-27" taxiway "A" was made temporary runway "8-26".
See also
* List of airports in Georgia (U.S. state)
References
External links
Cobb County Airport - McCollum FieldAtlanta Executive Jet CenterPreferred Jet CenterAero Atlanta Flight Center
{{Atlanta airports
Airports in Georgia (U.S. state)
Airports established in 1960
Buildings and structures in Cobb County, Georgia
1960 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Transportation in Cobb County, Georgia