Warren County Adds New Airport Manager

The Warren County Memorial Airport has a new manager in John Baugh.

Baugh said he wants to continue focusing on safety, services and maintaining a friendly atmosphere. Baugh said he also hopes to strengthen the assets the airport has to offer as an alternative to Nashville.

“As we grow we want to grow our capabilities and our market share,” Baugh said. “We have a new fuel farm, or fuel system, so I would like to see that utilized more, we also have full service maintenance, I’d like to increase the aircraft maintenance.”

Baugh said the airport is strategically located between northern and southern destinations. Baugh said benefits to aircraft stopping in Warren County include cheaper fuel than Nashville and shorter wait times to taxi on the ground.

“We’re outside of Nashville’s airspace, we’re outside of Chattanooga’s, and it’s just a great whistle stop for people to come in,” Baugh said. “Take a break or even spend the day and then continue on.”

For his next steps in the manager position, Baugh said it’s about looking at revenue and expenses. This goes for big expenses, down to pennies when it comes to overhead costs.

“You look at the last three years of your overhead and how can we be more efficient?” Baugh said. “This is a small example, but we found two of the toilets that were running, that’s just wasting water. So, we’re looking at pennies, we’re looking at dollars, looking at thousands of dollars.”

Baugh said he feels a responsibility to Warren County to manage the property like it was his own. Baugh said this is about looking at how the government’s money is being spent.