International landings to Cobb County International Airport continue to rebound from COVID impact

The Cobb County Courier logo followed by the text: Business and Industry, Cobb County International Airport

The Cobb County International Airport reported in its newsletter that international flights to the airport have rebounded after taking a hit from the COVID pandemic.

The following is from the newsletter:

The General Aviation U.S. Customs Facility continues to rebound from the COVID impacts. International Traffic has returned to its pre-Covid growth rates. So far the most distant non-stop arrivals have been from Cyprus, France, Denmark, Sweden, Nigeria, and Chile.

The General Aviation U.S. Custom Facilities are set up at various entry points into the U.S., including Cobb County International Airport.

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The purpose of the facilities is described on the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol website as follows:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws

About Cobb County International Airport

The Cobb County International Airport Master Plan gives the following description of the airport:

Cobb County International Airport – McCollum Field (RYY) is a 323-acre public-use facility located one mile southeast of Kennesaw, Georgia, approximately 25 miles northwest of the city of Atlanta. The Airport is owned and operated by the Cobb County Department of Transportation (CCDOT) in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements, with oversight by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) on federally funded, state-funded, and locally funded projects as a designated State Block Grant Program (SBGP) participant.

The Cobb County International Airport, which is also known as McCollum field, began through the efforts of Commissioner Herbert McCollum, who took office in 1957.

At that time Cobb County only had one commissioner. McCollum was the last commissioner under that system before the commission was expanded.

When discussions about the airport began, Cobb County was the only county among the fifteen largest in the state to lack a municipal airport.

McCollum lobbied Senator Herman Talmadge and 7th District Representative Erwin Mitchell, who managed to secure federal matching funding for the airport.

McCollum field opened in the summer of 1960.

(The history of the airport, related above, was summarized from the section on the airport’s beginnings in Cobb County, Georgia, and the Origins of the Suburban South, by Thomas Scott).

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