Masters Week, patrons fly in from all over the world each year. Many choose to land at Daniel Field, since it’s the shortest distance from the Augusta National Golf Club.

Preparations are underway so the airport will be ready for its busiest week of the year. On average Daniel Field will see about 100 planes per week, but during Masters Week they’ll see more than 10 times that amount. “We’re rolling out the red carpet for the golf patrons,” said Vice President for Business Development at Daniel Field, Becky Shealy.

Shealy says they’ve spent weeks getting ready for patrons, players and pilots to fly in to Daniel Field. “We spiffed up the terminal this year. We’ve painted the parking lot side of the building and changed out the signs. It looks like an entirely different place.”

A helpful add-on this year is the refurbished and motorized hanger doors paid for with TIA funds. Now they can park their regulars more quickly and conveniently. They’re also boosting staff size from 43 to more than 60 to accommodate the more than 700 aircraft coming Masters Week.

“We have van drivers, we have golf cart drivers. We have people up there in the tower that are the air traffic controllers, it’s a huge event.” Shealy says luckily parking hasn’t been a big concern in recent years. They are almost always able to find room for whoever needs to park their set of wings.

As for the operational side, there are no major changes from prior Tournaments. “I’ve been here 13 years. There are people that have been here way longer than I have. They’ve got a system in place. If it works it works and we’ve had plenty of the pilots tell us you guys have got a well run operation here don’t change anything,” said Shealy.

This is the second year reservations are not required to fly into the airport. Shealy says at Daniel Field, the motto is “if you can land it they can park it.” There won’t be any provided shuttle services from the airport but will have a fleet of taxis available.