HEADLINE: TAC Air: Chattanooga Airport neglecting maintenance
THE RECAP: Pam McAllister, the general manager of TAC Air’s Chattanooga operations, charged that airport officials are so concerned about challenging her company’s business that they are neglecting maintenance at their facility. At a Monday meeting of the Airport Authority, she said grass hasn’t been cut, airport aprons aren’t being swept and public bathroom doors and fixtures are broken.
DREW’S VIEW: After years of seeing TAC Air, a privately-owned private plane service and storage company, get the shaft from the Airport Authority, who used taxpayer funds to build a government-owned private plane service and storage company to compete against her company, McAllister delivered airport officials a well-deserved tongue lashing.
McAllister claims that because the Airport Authority is so busy shifting funds around to cover the huge operating loss incurred by the government-owned private plane spa — $1.2 million in less than two years — cutbacks on basic janitorial and maintenance functions have been necessary to make ends meet.
It would be difficult for anyone who has flown out of the airport in recent months to disagree. Broken faucets, dirty bathrooms, filthy carpets and neglected landscaping is par for the course at the Chattanooga Airport.