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 has been the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic and number of landings and take-offs since 1999, serving 88 million passengers per year.[2] The airport is the primary hub of AirTran Airways, Delta Air Lines, and Delta Connection partner Atlantic Southeast Airlines; the Delta hub is the world's largest airline hub. Delta Air Lines flew 55.96% of passengers from the airport in 2009, AirTran flew 17.75%, and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew 14.35%.[1] The airport has 195 gates domestic and international.[3]
Hartsfield–Jackson held its ranking as the world's busiest airport in 2009, both in terms of passengers and number of flights, by accommodating 88 million passengers (240,000 passengers daily) and 970,235 flights.[1] Many of the nearly one million flights are domestic flights from within the United States where Atlanta serves as a major hub for travel throughout the Southeastern 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.[1]
The airport is located mostly in unincorporated areas in Fulton and Clayton counties; the city limits of Atlanta,[4] College Park,[5] and Hapeville extend to the airport grounds.[6] The airport is served by MARTA's Red/Gold rail line.
History
Hartsfield–Jackson had its beginnings with a five-year, rent-free lease on 287 acres (116 ha) that was 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, Florida. 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.[7]
It was a busy airport from its inception and by the end of 1930 it placed third behind New York City and Chicago for regular daily flights with sixteen arriving and departing.[8] Candler Field's first control tower was opened March 1939.[9]
- For the military use of the airport during World War II, see Atlanta Army Airfield
In October 1940, the U.S. government declared it a military airfield and the United States Army Air Force operated Atlanta Army Airfield jointly with Candler Field. The Air Force used the airport primarily for the servicing of transient aircraft, with many different types of combat aircraft being maintained at the airport. 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. Atlanta Army Airfield closed after war's end.[9]
In 1946, Candler Field was renamed Atlanta Municipal Airport and by 1948, more than one million passengers passed through a war surplus hangar that served as a terminal building. During the postwar regulated period, both Delta and Eastern operated an extensive route network from ATL to destinations throughout the United States. Southern Airways also established itself at ATL shortly after the war and maintained a network of short-haul routes around the Southeast through 1979.
On June 1, 1956, an Eastern flight to Montreal, Canada was the first international flight out of Atlanta. Atlanta's first scheduled international flight was the Delta/Pan Am interchange DC-8 to Europe starting in 1964; the first scheduled nonstop to a foreign country was Eastern's flight to Mexico City around 1972. In 1957, Atlanta saw its first jet airliner: a prototype Sud Aviation Caravelle that was touring the country arrived from Washington D.C.[citation needed] 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.[9][10]
That same year, work on a new terminal began to help alleviate congestion. On May 3, 1961, a new $21 million terminal opened. It was the largest in the country and was 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 through.[11] In 1967, the city of Atlanta and the airlines began to work on a master plan for future development of Atlanta Municipal Airport.[citation needed]
Construction began 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.[12] 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 9,000-foot (2,700 m) fourth parallel runway was completed, and another runway was extended to 11,889 feet (3,624 m) the following year.[9]
Although Eastern was a much larger airline than Delta until airline deregulation in 1978, Delta was an early adopter of the hub and spoke route system, with Atlanta as its primary hub between the Midwest and Florida, giving it an early competitive advantage in the Atlanta market. Eastern ceased operations in 1989 due to labor issues and competition throughout the Eastern seaboard, leaving Delta with the only major airline hub in Atlanta. American Airlines considered establishing an Atlanta hub around the time of Eastern's demise, but determined that Delta was already too fortified there, and that the competitive environment was more favorable at Eastern's other hub in Miami.[13]
ValuJet was established in 1992 to provide low-cost competition for Delta at ATL following Eastern's demise. Its safety practices were called into question early in its life, and the airline was temporarily grounded after the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592. It resumed operations in 1997 as AirTran Airways and remains the second-largest airline at ATL today. AirTran was acquired by Southwest Airlines in 2010 and Southwest plans to integrate its operations with AirTran in the future.
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,[14] and was the first runway added since 1984. It bridges Interstate 285 (the Perimeter) on the south side of the airport, making Hartsfield-Jackson the only civilian airport in the nation to have a runway above an interstate. The massive project, which involved putting fill dirt eleven-stories high in some places, destroyed some surrounding neighborhoods, and dramatically changed the scenery of two cemeteries on the property, Flat Rock Cemetery and Hart Cemetery.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17]
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.[18]
Atlanta's city council voted on October 20, 2003 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 died on June 23, 2003. The council initially planned on renaming the airport solely for Mayor Jackson, but public outcry,[19] especially by Mayor Hartsfield's descendants, prompted the compromise.[20]
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 each year 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.[21]
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).[22][23] The city of Macon offered to sell water to the airport, through a proposed pipeline.[24]
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.[25]
Expansion
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.[26]
Hartsfield–Jackson Rental Car Center
The Hartsfield–Jackson Rental Car Center, which opened on December 8, 2009, houses all ten current airport rental agencies with capacity for additional companies.[27] The complex features 9,900 parking spaces split up between two four-story parking decks that together cover 2,800,000 square feet (260,000 m2), a 137,000-square-foot (12,700 m2) customer service center, and a maintenance center for vehicles, which features 140 gas pumps,and 30 bays for washing with each one equipped with a water recovery system.[27] The automated people mover, nicknamed the ATL Skytrain, (using Mitsubishi Crystal Mover equipment) connects the facility to the airport and to the Gateway Center of the Georgia International Convention Center and the Hartsfield–Jackson Rental Car Center.[27] A four-lane roadway was built across Interstate 85 to connect the Hartsfield–Jackson Rental Car Center to the existing airport road network.[28]
Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. International Terminal
In July 2003, then-Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin announced a new terminal to be named for Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr.. The new international terminal would be built on the east side of the airport near International Concourse E, on a site that had been occupied by air cargo facilities and the midfield control tower. It would add twelve new gates able to hold wide-body jets, which can be converted to sixteen narrow-body gates, as well as new check-in desks and a baggage claim area solely for international carriers. Additionally, the international terminal would have its own parking lot just for international passengers with over 1,100 spaces. Arriving international passengers whose final destination is Atlanta would be able to keep possession of their luggage as they proceed to exit the airport. Currently, such passengers must "recheck" their luggage and clear security at Concourse E. Then, enter the underground Transportation Mall to reach the main terminal where they must "reclaim" their luggage. The new terminal will be connected to Terminal E by the people mover tram and will also have ground transportation access via I-75.[29]
The new terminal was slated to open in 2006; however, time and cost overruns led Airport General Manager Ben DeCosta to cancel the design contract in August 2005. The next day, the architect sued the airport claiming "fraud" and "bad faith", blaming the airport authority for the problems.[30] In early 2007, the General Manager awarded a new design contract on the new international terminal to Atlanta Gateway Designers (AGD). Estimates place the terminal's cost at $1.4 billion, and it is expected to open in April 2012.[26][31]
Also scheduled to be completed after the new international terminal and concourse is a new terminal south of the current terminals. The project is currently known as the South Gate Complex, and is expected to include up to 70 gates at an estimated cost of approximately $1.8 billion.[32] The new terminal will be connected to the main terminal by an expanded automated people mover system.[33] When the South Gate Complex is completed, it is expected that most domestic carriers other than Delta will move to the SGC. This would leave Delta as the sole domestic carrier at the current terminal, which it will share with its SkyTeam partners. Since the SGC is not planned to have Customs and Border Protection facilities, international arrivals other than pre-cleared flights will also continue to use the current terminal (specifically British Airways and Lufthansa).
No comments:
Post a Comment