Airport At St. Marys, GA Closing In Less Than A Month

Two businesses located at the St. Marys Airport in southeastern Georgia will not have to pay their final month's rent ... but they'll be out of business by the end of the July.

The businesses are Bird Aviation and St. Marys Aviation, which operate at St. Marys Airport (4J6). But that airport will be closing in less than a month due to its proximity to the Kings Bay Submarine Base on the Georgia coast. City officials have been trying to close the airport since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The city recently struck a deal with the federal government to waive $5 million in penalties for closing the airport, and allowing the city to retain ownership of the land.

The Brunswick (GA) News reports that the two businesses still have multiple years left on their respective lease. In approving the deal to forgive the July rent, airport authority member Howard Davis said the closure was putting a burden on the owners and their businesses. Board member Artie Jones agreed, saying suspending the lease payments was "only fair" given the circumstances. Airport authority attorney Jim Stein said that the closure of the airport was "not their fault. They've been shot down, for all practical purposes."

The FAA plans to build a replacement airport  somewhere in the region that is not in the same proximity to Kings Bay, but no location for the replacement airport has been identified, so any new airport is still years, if not decades in the future.

FMI: Original Story