DeKalb County commissioners approved a $45 million airport expansion plan at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) after years of opposition from a dedicated group of residents.
Sky Harbour Group Corporation is an aviation infrastructure business that builds home-basing campuses for business jets. The White Plains, NY-based Sky Harbour will move forward with plans to build eight aircraft hangars on 13 acres of the east side of PDK.
The county estimates the contract over a 50-year period could bring in $576,607,163 in revenue – $211,270,337 of which would go to DeKalb County.
The board voted 6-1 in favor of the contract.
Commissioner Michelle Long Spears was the lone vote against the Sky Harbour contract, emphasizing the need for “transparent, data-driven decision making.” She suggested waiting for the result of an ongoing air and noise study before moving forward with large-scale aviation expansion.
“The District 2 office has heard from over 700 people in the area surrounding PDK Airport. The vast majority of people have expressed opposition to expansion of airport operations. There has been much concern about the health effects of the noise and jet fuel emissions into the environment,” Long Spears wrote in an email newsletter to constituents. “We pledge to work for the health and safety of residents impacted by this decision.”
PDK Watch, led by resident Larry Foster, is against expansion. Foster said Sky Harbour plans to base larger and noisier jets that produce more pollution at PDK than have previously been allowed.
Public opposition to the plans has continued to block efforts to approve the Sky Harbor contract for more than two years, claiming it will reduce the quality of life in north DeKalb County, according to the opposition.
“I believe there will be a long, painful degradation of the quality of life for residents in northeast Atlanta for the subsequent five decades and more. But who knows what may happen. History is full of surprises. Perhaps an overextended Sky Harbour company will simply go bankrupt when the economy tanks during the next six months and more,” Foster told Rough Draft.
Steve Racine, who lives under the flight path of PDK, is a pilot.
“These firms don’t have the best interest of DeKalb County residents in mind, nor do they care about our community or the degraded quality of life we’ll experience because of this contract,” Racine commented at the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners meeting.
A study is being conducted on the noise and emissions produced by the new hangar activity. Results of the full environmental study are expected in summer 2026; however, preliminary findings estimate that the impact of the eastside development will be minimal.
PDK has been tracked for environmental effects for over a decade. In a 2012 environmental study, findings show “the concentrations of contaminants found both on the PDK Airport grounds and in the surrounding community are consistent with those found in metropolitan Atlanta as a whole and in other metropolitan areas around the country.”
The research is being conducted by HMMH and paid for by DeKalb County.
PDK marks the company’s 20th location. Sky Harbour owns hangars in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, Nashville, TN, and San Jose, CA. Expansion to Chicago. Long Beach, CA is expected in 2026.
In a statement, Sky Harbour CEO Tal Keinan said the move is a “triple win.”
“First, for the citizens of DeKalb County, who will benefit from job growth, direct revenues and a reduced airport noise footprint; second, for Atlanta’s business aviation community, who’s members have vigorously sought to secure a Sky Harbour HBO campus at PDK; and third, for Sky Harbour,” Keinan said. “This is the culmination of a five-year effort to enter the number one airport in one of the nation’s most robust and fastest-growing business aviation markets.”
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