Chick-fil-A plans to buy large vacant hangar for corporate fleet

Chick-fil-A’s burgeoning chicken empire in Peachtree City is about to take flight.

The company has announced plans to take over a large vacant facility adjacent to the Falcon Field Airport to host its two corporate jets. The facility is owned by Hunting Aviation and it borders Falcon Field, although no operations have occurred there in a number of years.

Bureon Ledbetter, Chick-fil-A’s senior vice president and general counsel, said the planes are only used “to go sell chicken.” He noted the company has two new restaurants under construction in the city.

“We’re still more excited about hiring a couple hundred employees and adding about $5 million in infrastructure in Peachtree City than we are about acquiring an airport facility,” Ledbetter said.

Ledbetter said the company doesn’t intend to make Falcon Field a “mini Hartsfield” in large part because a significant number of company employees live in Peachtree City and they wouldn’t stand for it, he said.

The company will have a small number of takeoffs and landings, as the jets are typically gone for days at a time, Ledbetter noted.

The facility is big enough that Chick-fil-A will consider housing other corporate jets there, perhaps from the company’s other “corporate friends” but there is no intention for the company to sell fuel at the facility, Ledbetter said.

Currently the only fuel sold to the flying public on airport property is offered by the Airport Authority. Those sales comprise one of the main sources of revenue to offset operating costs.

The Peachtree City Airport Authority will have to sign off on the deal to allow the airport access agreement to be transferred from Hunting Aviation to Chick-fil-A.

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