Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (IATA: ATL, ICAO: KATL, FAA LID: ATL), known locally as Atlanta Airport, Hartsfield Airport, and Hartsfield-Jackson, is located seven miles (11 km) south of the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic as well as landings and take-offs.^[2] The airport is the primary hub of Delta Air Lines, GeorgiaSkies, AirTran Airways, Delta Connection under the Shuttle America name, and Delta Connection partner Atlantic Southeast Airlines; the Delta hub is the world's largest airline hub. Delta Air Lines flew 56% of passengers from the airport in 2007, AirTran flew 19%, and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew 12%.^[3] The airport has 196 gates.^[4]

Hartsfield-Jackson held its ranking as the world's busiest airport in 2007, both in terms of passengers and number of flights, by accommodating 89.4 million passengers and 994,346 flights respectively.^[3] Many of these flights are domestic flights from within the United States where Atlanta serves as a major transfer point for flights to and from smaller cities throughout the Southern United States.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has international service to North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. As an international gateway to the United States, Hartsfield-Jackson ranks seventh; John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City is first.^[5] However, the airport is increasingly becoming a major gateway for passengers boarding flights for other countries. In 2007, Atlanta's airport saw international traffic jump 10.2 percent over the previous year. More than 4.4 million passengers boarded international flights at Hartsfield-Jackson in 2007.^[3]

The airport is located partly within the city of College Park, Georgia, which is south of the city limits of Atlanta, but is located mostly in unincorporated areas in Fulton and Clayton counties; the city limits of Atlanta^[6], College Park, East Point, and Hapeville^[7] extend to the airport grounds. The airport is reachable by MARTA.

History

Atlanta Airport as seen from an airplane

Hartsfield-Jackson had its beginnings with a five-year, rent free lease on 287 acres (116 ha) that had been the home of an abandoned auto racetrack. The lease was signed on April 16, 1925, by Mayor Walter Sims, who committed the city to develop it into an airfield. As part of the agreement, the property was renamed Candler Field after its former owner, Coca-Cola tycoon and former Atlanta mayor Asa Candler. The first flight into Candler Field was on September 15, 1926, a Florida Airways mail plane flying from Jacksonville. In May 1928, Pitcairn Aviation began service to Atlanta, followed in June 1930 by Delta Air Service. Later these two airlines, known as Eastern Air Lines and Delta Air Lines, respectively, would both use Atlanta as their chief hubs.

Candler Field's first control tower was opened March 1939 and in October 1940 the U.S. government declared it an air base. During World War II, the airport doubled in size and set a record of 1,700 takeoffs and landings in a single day, making it the nation's busiest airport in terms of flight operation.

In 1946 Candler Field was renamed Atlanta Municipal Airport. In 1948, more than one million passengers passed through a war surplus hangar that served as a terminal building. On June 1, 1956, an Eastern Airlines flight to Montreal, Canada was the first international flight out of Atlanta. In 1957, Atlanta had its first jet flight: a Sud Aviation Caravelle from Washington D.C. That same year, work on a new terminal began to help alleviate congestion. Atlanta was the busiest airport in the country with more than two million passengers passing through that year and, between noon and 2 p.m. each day, it became the busiest airport in the world.

On May 3, 1961, the new $21 million terminal opened, the largest in the country, being able to accommodate over six million travelers a year. The new airport was stretched past its capacity the very first year when nine and half million people passed though. In 1967, the city of Atlanta and the airlines began to work on a master plan for future development of Atlanta Municipal Airport.

Construction was begun on the present midfield terminal in January 1977 under the administration of Mayor Maynard Jackson. It was the largest construction project in the South, costing $500 million. Named for former Atlanta mayor William Berry Hartsfield, who did much to promote air travel, William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport opened on September 21, 1980, on-time and under budget.^[8] It was designed to accommodate up to 55 million passengers per year and covered 2.5 million square feet (230,000 m²). In December 1984 a 9000-foot (3 km) fourth parallel runway was completed, and another runway was extended to 11,889 feet (3.6 km) the following year.

In May 2001, construction of a 9,000-foot (2,700 m) fifth runway (10-28) began. It was completed at a cost of $1.28 billion and opened on May 27, 2006,^[9] and was the first runway added since 1984. It bridges Interstate 285 (the Perimeter) on the south side of the airport. The massive project, which involved putting fill dirt eleven stories high in some places, destroyed some surrounding neighborhoods, and families are able to visit two cemeteries on the property only occasionally. It was added to help ease some of the traffic problems caused by landing small- and mid-size aircraft on the longer runways which are also used by larger planes such as the Boeing 777, which generally require longer takeoff distances than the smaller planes. With the fifth runway, Hartsfield-Jackson is one of only a few airports that can perform triple simultaneous landings.^[10] The fifth runway is expected to increase the capacity for landings and take-offs by 40%, from an average of 184 flights per hour to 237 flights per hour.^[11]

HJAIA's 398 foot-tall control tower.

Along with the construction of the fifth runway, a new control tower was built to see the entire length of the runway. The new control tower is the tallest airport control tower in the United States, with a height of over 398 feet (121 m). The old control tower, 585 feet (178 m) away from the new control tower, was demolished August 5, 2006.

In 2003, Atlanta's city council voted on October 20 to change the name from Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport to the current Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in honor of former mayor Maynard Jackson, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, who had died on June 23, 2003. The council had initially planned on renaming the airport solely for Mayor Jackson, but public outcry, especially by Mayor Hartsfield's descendants, prompted the compromise.

In April 2007, an "end-around taxiway" opened, called Taxiway Victor. It is expected to save an estimated $26 million to $30 million in fuel by allowing airplanes landing on the northernmost runway to taxi to the gate area without preventing other aircraft from taking off. The taxiway drops approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) from the runway elevation to allow takeoffs to continue.^[12]

The airport today employs approximately 55,300 airline, ground transportation, concessionaire, security, federal government, City of Atlanta and Airport tenant employees and is considered the largest employment center in the State of Georgia. With a payroll of $2.4 billion, the airport has a direct and indirect economic impact of $3.2 billion on the local and regional economy and a total annual, regional economic impact of more than $19.8 billion.^[13]

Expansion

Sign installation visible from departing flights, emphasizing the presence of Delta Air Lines.

In 1999, Hartsfield-Jackson's leadership established the Development Program: "Focus On the Future" involving multiple construction projects with the intention of preparing the airport to handle a projected demand of 121 million passengers in 2015. The program was originally budgeted at $5.4 billion over a ten-year period, but due to project delays and increased construction costs, the total is now projected at over $9 billion.^[14]

The Consolidated Rental Car (CONRAC) facility, scheduled for completion by early 2009, will house all ten current airport rental agencies with capacity for additional companies. An automated people mover (using Mitsubishi Crystal Mover) will connect the facility to the airport and to the Gateway Center of the Georgia International Convention Center. A four-lane roadway will also be built to connect CONRAC to the existing airport road network.^[15]

In July 2003, current Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin announced a new terminal to be named the Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. International Terminal. The new international terminal would be built on the east side of the airport near International Concourse E, on a site that has been occupied by air cargo facilities and the midfield control tower. It would add ten new gates able to hold wide-body jets, plus check-in desks and a baggage claim area for international carriers. Arriving international passengers whose final destination is Atlanta will be able to retain possession of their baggage as they proceed to exit the airport. The new terminal will be connected to Terminal E by the people mover system and will also have new ground transportation access from I-75.^[16] It was slated to open in 2006. However, time and cost overruns led general manager Ben DeCosta to cancel the design contract in August 2005. The very next day the company sued the airport claiming "fraud" and "bad faith", blaming the airport authority for the problems.^[17] Recently, Ben DeCosta awarded a new design contract on the new international terminal to Gateway Designers. Current estimates place the terminal's cost at $1.4 billion with a projected delivery in 2011.^[14][18]

Also scheduled to be completed after the new international terminal and concourse is a new terminal south of the current terminals. The new terminal is expected to include up to 70 gates.^[19] The project is currently known as the South Gate Complex, and is estimated to cost around $1.8 billion. The new terminal will be connected to the main terminal by an expanded automated people mover system.

Layout

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has terminal and concourse space totaling 5.8 million square feet (~0.54 km²).^[4] The airport has two terminals where passengers check in and claim bags, the North Terminal and the South Terminal. The two terminals are parts of a larger building. The portions of the building in between the two terminals include the Atrium (which has a large, open seating area, concessionaires and a bank), the main security checkpoint, car rental agencies and a MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) train station.^[20]

Six concourse buildings, parallel to one another, exist for passenger boarding. The first concourse is directly connected to the main terminal, and is known as Concourse T (for Terminal). The remaining five concourses are arranged successively in distance from the terminal as Concourses A, B, C, D, and E.^[4] Concourse E is the international terminal, and was opened in 1994 in time for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Atlanta .^[21] The concourses are connected by an underground Transportation Mall, which begins at the main terminal and passes under the center of each concourse.^[22] There is also a second underground walkway between Concourses B and C located at the north end of the two concourses, making it possible to transfer without returning all the way to the center of the concourse.^[23][24] This was originally constructed for Eastern Airlines, who occupied these two terminals.

A concourse entrance to the underground people mover.

The Automated People Mover

Main article: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Automated People Mover

In addition to a pedestrian walkway, which includes a series of moving walkways, connecting the concourses, the Transportation Mall also features an automated people mover. The Automated People Mover has a station at the east end of the main terminal for passengers entering the Transportation Mall after passing through security (this station also serves as the station for Concourse T), and a station at each of the remaining five concourses. There is an additional station for the Baggage Claim area, which is located directly underneath the Main Terminal. It is the world's busiest automated people mover, with over 64 million riders in 2002.^[22]

MARTA Station

Main article: Airport (MARTA station)

Hartsfield-Jackson also has its own train station on the city's rapid transit system, MARTA. The above-ground station is inside in the main building, between the north and south terminals on the west end. The Airport train station is currently the southernmost station in the MARTA system.^[25]

Main Terminal and baggage claim

North Terminal

A line of automated and manned ticketing counters for Delta, Atlanta's major tenant airline.

• Aeromexico
• Air Canada
• Air Canada Jazz
• Air Jamaica
• AirTran Airways
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Continental Airlines
  • Continental Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• Korean Air
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Midwest Airlines
• Northwest Airlines
  • Northwest Airlink operated by Mesaba Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• United Airlines
  • United Express operated by Mesa Airlines
  • United Express operated by Shuttle America
• US Airways
  • US Airways Express operated by Air Wisconsin
  • US Airways Express operated by Mesa Airlines
  • US Airways Express operated by PSA Airlines
  • US Airways Express operated by Republic Airlines

South Terminal

• Air France
• Delta Air Lines
  • Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines
  • Delta Connection operated by Chautauqua Airlines
  • Delta Connection operated by Comair
  • Delta Connection operated by Freedom Airlines
  • Delta Connection operated by Pinnacle Airlines
  • Delta Connection operated by Shuttle America
  • Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines

Terminals, airlines, and destinations

The Atlanta airport has more nonstop flights and destinations than any airline hub in the world. It serves 261 nonstop destinations, including 83 international destinations in 54 countries,^[26] from 196 gates spread across six concourses: T, A, B, C, D, and E.

Concourse T

Concourse T (originally "T-Gates"; they are directly attached to the Terminal building) has 15 Gates: T1-T15 ^[27]

Concourse A

Concourse A has 34 Gates: A1-A34 ^[28]

Concourse B

Concourse B has 35 Gates: B1-B34, B36 ^[29]

Concourse C

Concourse C has 48 Gates: C1-C22, C30-C53, C55-C57. ^[30]

Concourse C is the primary hub for AirTran Airways and Atlantic Southeast Airlines

Concourse D

Concourse D has 36 Gates: Gate D1, D1A, D2-D8, D8A, D9-D11, D11A, D12-D16, D21-D37. ^[31]

Concourse D also holds the overflow gates that any airline may use. These gates are unbranded by any airline.

International Concourse E

An electronic sign at Gate E14, indicating that the flight is bound for Incheon International Airport

International Concourse E has 28 Gates: E1-E12, E14-E18, E26-E36 ^[32]

Atlantic Aviation

Due to access restrictions, GeorgiaSkies currently operates from the Atlantic Aviation Fixed base operator facility and provides shuttle transportation for passengers connecting to the main passenger terminals.^[35]

• GeorgiaSkies (Athens, Macon)

Cargo airlines

Accidents and incidents

Accidents en route

• April 4, 1977 Southern Airways Flight 242 (Huntsville to Atlanta, crashed en route a few dozen miles from Atlanta Airport)
• September 6, 1985 Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 (Milwaukee to Atlanta, crashed on takeoff at the airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• May 11, 1996 ValuJet Flight 592 (Miami to Atlanta, crashed en route from Miami International Airport in the Florida Everglades)
• August 27, 2006 Comair Flight 191 operating as Delta Connection Flight 5191 (Lexington to Atlanta, crashed on takeoff at the Blue Grass Airport) 49 fatalities were reported. ^[36]

Incidents

• On May 23, 1960 Delta Air Lines Flight 1903 assumed a nose high attitude shortly after take-off and then banked steeply to the left and crashed nose down killing 4.^[37]
• On June 8, 1995 ValuJet Flight 597 suffered a catastrophic engine failure on the runway.
• On November 29, 2000 AirTran Airways Flight 956 executed an emergency landing shortly after takeoff, due to an electrical fire.
• On January 12, 2007, a stowaway was found dead on board a Delta Air Lines jet in the wheel well after arriving in Atlanta from Dakar, Senegal.^[38]
• On January 11, 2008 an Atlantic Southeast Airlines Canadair CRJ-200 and a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 came within 1,250 feet (380 m) of collision.^[39]

Chemical spills

At the beginning of January 2002, the antifreeze used for deicing during snow overflowed from the drainage system into a stream. Because the airport is built over the beginning point of the Flint River, one of the major rivers in Georgia, it ended up in water systems which supply drinking water downstream. The problem was fixed before the next winter, though as of 2007^[update] it has not snowed again enough to give it a significant real-life test.

Security incidents

On November 16, 2001, a man left the secure area to retrieve his camera bag, which he had left behind, and then tried to bypass the wait at the security checkpoint by running the wrong way down the escalators at the secure area's exit. As a result, the entire airport was evacuated, including all aircraft, and operations halted for three hours.^[40]

The man said that he tried to bypass the security line because he would be late for a flight he was taking to see a Georgia Bulldogs football game. As part of his sentence he was not allowed to attend any Bulldogs games for the 2002 season.

Crime

From December 2006 to March 2007, there were 30 arrests for indecent exposure involving reported sex acts in airport bathrooms.^[41] Several prominent persons were arrested, including an advisor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Spelman College professor, and the Chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority board of directors.^[42]

Other notes

As a result of the Southeastern U.S. drought of 2007, the airport (the eighth-largest water user in the state) has made changes to reduce water usage. This includes adjusting toilets, of which there are 725 commodes and 338 urinals, in addition to 601 sinks. (The two terminals alone use 917,000 gallons or about 3.5 million liters each day in average.) It also suspended the practice of using firetrucks to spray water over aircraft when the pilot made a last landing before retirement (a water salute).^[43][44] The city of Macon offered to sell water to the airport, through a proposed pipeline.^[45]

Air traffic controllers for tower and ground control operations refer to the letter "D" using the word "Dixie" instead of "Delta" to avoid confusion with Delta Air Lines aircraft (note the use of "DIXIE" for taxiway "D" in the FAA's airport diagram, listed in the external links below).

See also

• Georgia World War II Army Airfields

References

External links

• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (official site)
• Atlanta Time Machine section on the Atlanta airport, featuring dozens of vintage photos
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport 1961-1980
• ATL WiFi Connection Information
• FAA Airport Diagram(PDF), effective 20 November 2008
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KATL
  • ASN accident history for ATL
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KATL
  • FAA current ATL delay information