CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Volkswagen turned parts of Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport into a parking lot.
The automaker brought hundreds of people to a global meeting of company managers Friday at the new $1 billion assembly plant in Chattanooga.
Pam McAllister, who manages the airport's fixed base operation at Lovell Field, told The Chattanooga Times Free Press that about 10 planes were parked outside TAC Air's facilities on Friday.
The German automaker's managers flew into the city earlier in the week for a high-level strategy session and to check out the plant that officially started producing the new Passat this spring.
Martin Winterkorn, the company's chief executive, said earlier that about 250 VW officials, managers and their spouses were to be in the city.
McAllister said the number of aircraft is probably one of the biggest collections she has seen atChattanooga's airport. She said other big gatherings which produced a lot of airport business were AT&T's annual meeting of stockholders last year and an NCAA championship football game at Finley Stadium between Colgate and Delaware in 2003.
Mike Landguth, the airport's president, said Lovell Field officials have planned for several years for growth in aviation which they believe is a direct reflection of the region's expanding economy.
"Clearly, that growth is occurring," he said.
VW built a temporary 60,000-square-foot structure for the meeting at the plant. According to VW, the pavilion is to be dismantled within days after the meeting.
