President Barack Obama exits Air Force One upon arrival at Chattanooga’s Lovell Field.The ongoing skirmish between a pair of general aviation operators at Chattanooga Airport now appears to have drawn in President Barack Obama and Air Force One.
When the president visited Chattanooga on Tuesday, his plane was taken to the airport-owned Wilson Air Center facility rather than to TAC Air, which says it has the contract to handle military fueling operations at Lovell Field.
“The problem is we have a landlord who jumped in front of us,” said Dave Edwards, marketing director at TAC Air. “It’s another example of the problem when you’re competing with your own landlord.”
But, an airport spokesman said it had no part in where Air Force One was parked.
“We were informed by the Air Force that they planned to use Wilson Air Center as the arrival and departure location,” said spokesman Albert Waterhouse. “We were told the ability to limit access to the west side of the air field was attractive to the operational and security teams, and was among their reasons for choosing that location.”