As the crow flies, the distance between Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Chattanooga’s Airport is just 106 miles.
It’s a quick 49-minute flight, with ticket prices ranging from $100 to $700, depending on time of day. Or you can commit to a two-hour drive and hope for smooth sailing along I-75 – or take the bus.
Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport – CHA (as in ATL) – is five miles east of downtown Chattanooga. It is owned and operated by the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority.
For metro Atlantans who traverse I-75 north of metro Atlanta, the initials CHA – and it’s “Start Here. Go Anywhere.” billboard advertising campaign has become a familiar presence.
The marketing pitch emphasizes the ease of flying to Hartsfield to connect with the world, versus driving, and parking, and walking.
With slogans such as “It’s never been easier to change your scenery. Because you shouldn’t have to change planes to change cities,” the Authority reminds drivers on I-75 why they should have just taken the plane.
Atlanta is just one of several major non-stop destinations for CHA customers. Others include non-stop flights to Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Orlando, Tampa, New York City, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia.
And CHA is also served by Allegiant, American, and United – which provides connections to ten cities.
CHA’s marketing pitch is creative: “Here. There. Everywhere. Miss all the traffic, the long lines, the parking nightmares. With non-stop flights from Chattanooga to ten destinations and major hubs, adventure has never been closer or more convenient.”
Atlanta’s Delta benefits from its connections to and from CHA as well, along with other Hartsfield tenants Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit.
Chattanooga Airport officials are looking at better tapping the North Georgia and North Alabama markets as Lovell Field stays on course to pass last year’s record-breaking passenger traffic.
Through July 2019, total boardings are 313, 983, up 12.52 percent over last year, according to the airport.
Blake Poole, the airport’s vice president of air service and economic development, said officials are eyeing more billboards along the Interstate-75 corridor in North Georgia to advertise Lovell Field.
The airport currently has one billboard at I-75 near the 120 Loop which it changes out about every three months. The Airport enlisted Chattanooga web design and marketing firm Maycreate to provide the graphics for these billboards, Poole said.
He said they also added one on I-75 between Adairsville and Calhoun, Ga.
To the North Georgia market, airport officials pitch Chattanooga’s easier access than driving south to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
“What we’ve seen here is a number of people coming from North Atlanta,” Hart said. “Our fares have been very competitive. People come here to originate for the convenience and may pay less on the ticket price.”
In addition, Poole said officials are checking the Huntsville, Ala., area market, too. He said, for example, he was at a conference there last year and a Huntsville woman told him how much she likes flying out of Chattanooga.
Dan Jacobson, the Airport Authority’s chairman, said he has heard a lot of positive comments about Delta’s nonstop to LaGuardia Airport in New York, which began in July, 2018.
“There’s also a lot of buzz and excitement in New York and other places about Chattanooga,” he said. “This is a powerful addition to our economic development efforts.”
Delta operates a 76-seat regional jet on a daily roundtrip between the cities.
United Airlines, which has been flying into the New York area with flights into Newark, N.J., for the past couple of years, shifted to two non-stops daily between Chattanooga and Washington Dulles last October.
Washington Dulles is a new destination for Chattanooga nonstop flights, and Volkswagen officials are expected to benefit as the company’s U.S. headquarters is located in nearby Herndon, VA.
