Those buying fuel at the Covington Municipal Airport will be able to save 10 cents per gallon if they use a Shell credit card. Cash customers will also receive the 10-cent discount.

Not only does Covington buy its fuel from Shell, the city also has to pay a 3.25 percent fee on purchases made with any credit card other than Shell's. This fee eats into Covington's profits, so the city will offer the 10-cent discount to promote Shell's card and hopefully improve the airport's revenues. The amount saved by reducing the 3.25 percent fee will be greater than the money lost by giving a 10-cent discount.

Airport Engineer Vincent Passariello said the city sells around 13,000 to 17,000 gallons of gasoline (Jet-A and AvGas) per month. For example, Standridge's new plane, which is a large model, takes about 2,000 gallons to fill up.

The Covington City Council approved the discount Monday.

After the meeting, City Attorney Ed Crudup said he believed the discount could be discriminatory against cash customers, because the city gets its full amount of payment from those customers. City Manager Steve Horton confirmed Tuesday that cash customers would also receive the discount.

New airport terminal
Passariello also unveiled plans for a new airport entrance and terminal building on the southeast side of the airport next to Ga. Highway 142.

The airport's only current entrance is off of Airport Road, which does not provide convenient access to Covington. The proposed Ga. 142 entrance would provide easy access to Interstate 20, surrounding industries and Covington.

The council unanimously approved the plans.

While the new terminal building can be built at any time, future expansion of hangars back west across the airport will be complicated by the presence of a stream and wetlands. The city is still working to get a permit to build in the wetlands area.