Major economic developments projects in the Chattanooga, Tenn., region have cargo booming at the city’s Metropolitan Airport. Total cargo at the airport was up nearly 20 percent in 2013. That followed a phenomenal 2012 when cargo rose nearly 125 percent. Cargo was up 70 percent in 2011.
Chattanooga is by no means a major air cargo center, handling 9,350 tonnes in 2013, but the cargo rise has been rapid. Much of it can be attributed to the opening of two massive Amazon.com fulfillment centers in the region. Adding to the momentum has been Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant, which opened in 2011.
“There has been a huge increase in the economic development of this community over the last four or five years,” says Terry Hart, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Airport Authority.
To accommodate the increased cargo traffic, the Airport Authority spent US$2.3 million to expand a cargo ramp (pictured above) on the south end of the airport’s main runway. That project was completed during the second half of 2013.
“To support the growth and plan for the future, we knew we had some infrastructure work that needed to be done here,” Hart says. “What we did was expand a concrete pad that allows the capacity to accommodate two wide-body aircraft.”
FedEx is the only regular dedicated cargo carrier to serve Chattanooga. It has ramped up capacity considerably over the past few years, moving from turboprop service to its Memphis hub up to 727s, to its 757 service six nights a week.
Hart says FedEx expanded its footprint in Chattanooga so it could also serve northern Georgia, added territory in Tennessee and the western tip of North Carolina. Carpet manufacturers in nearby Dalton, Ga., also occasionally use airfreight to ship samples, he says.
UPS serves Chattanooga by truck only, but Hart is hopeful it will add air service at some point.
“There have been discussions with UPS, and we keep them informed,” Hart says. “We are hopeful that if we continue to see economic growth they might have an interest in placing an aircraft here. We would love to see it, and we have the infrastructure now.”
While Volkswagen’s contribution to the cargo increase is mostly on the company’s business side, a further expansion at the company’s manufacturing site will add to the cargo momentum, Hart says. Sometime during the first half of 2014, Volkswagen will pick a site for its new North America SUV manufacturing facility. The favored site is reportedly at the company’s Chattanooga manufacturing complex.