Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport

[john3eblover]

Originally Posted by jmcgoblue

So if passenger volume continues to grow beyond the airport's capacity, how do you think it will be accommodated?

the airport's capacity right now is about 120 million if i'm not mistaken, and that will last for quite a while. Meanwhile, there are plans to build a new international terminal, as well as a proposed new Southern Terminal...both of which will significantly raise the capacity as well. The new 5th runway is already making an impact on on time arrivals and departures...so Hartsfield is well equipped to handle the increase in capacity.

[john3eblover]

Originally Posted by Trae

I doubt it. Macon is already making preparations to catch the overflow of passengers at Hartsfield. There are so far, in contact with two airlines to go to their airport. Click here for more.

Macon has nothing to do with Atlanta building another airport...if Macon wants to court more commercial airlines, then that's good for them. Macon is about 85 miles away from Atlanta, while Hartsfield is 10. macon will never be a direct competitor to Atlanta, and will have no effect on the airlines or capacity there. Just like Southwest at Birmingham has no effect, or Chattanooga has no effect, or Greenville, etc.

The argument is over whether or not Atlanta will build another airport within the metro area, not whether or not smaller towns a few hours away will start to handle some "regional traffic". Sure, that will always be the case. But this is not the first time that there has been speculation about a 2nd airport in Atlanta. The NIMBYS are just too powerful. Nobody wants to build a new huge airport right next to their neighborhood. Look at how strict the airports in the area already area, like PDK. Sure, Dobbins would be ideal, but its too small and surrounded by development. Its just not going to happen unless its like 100 miles outside the city, and even then, not for a LONG time.

[Trae]

Well, Macon is 85 miles south of the city, and it is happening... Development in Macon is increasing north towards Atlanta, and though Atlanta's southern side is not growing as fast as the north, it still is growing to the south. Monroe County still a bit rural in parts, but Macon and Atlanta will grow together eventually.

[STrek777]

Originally Posted by john3eblover

the airport's capacity right now is about 120 million if i'm not mistaken, and that will last for quite a while. Meanwhile, there are plans to build a new international terminal, as well as a proposed new Southern Terminal...both of which will significantly raise the capacity as well. The new 5th runway is already making an impact on on time arrivals and departures...so Hartsfield is well equipped to handle the increase in capacity.

How fun would it be if they named the new South Terminal after Shirley Franklin?! After all she has done quite a bit to completely overhaul the city. Would that mean the name of the airport would be the - Hartsfield Jackson Franklin Atlanta International Airport?!

[john3eblover]

^sounds like a nightmare!

[john3eblover]

Originally Posted by Trae

Well, Macon is 85 miles south of the city, and it is happening... Development in Macon is increasing north towards Atlanta, and though Atlanta's southern side is growing as fast as the north, and is still growing to the south. Monroe County still a bit rural in parts, but Macon and Atlanta will grow together eventually.

Regardless, it's different than building another "atlanta" airport. Macon is a different city entirely.

[Trae]

It sure is, but I doubt the airlines would be coming back if it wasn't so close to Atlanta.

[Rail Claimore]

Originally Posted by jmcgoblue

So if passenger volume continues to grow beyond the airport's capacity, how do you think it will be accommodated?

If/when that time comes, there's Dobbins and Briscoe.

Originally Posted by STrek777

How fun would it be if they named the new South Terminal after Shirley Franklin?! After all she has done quite a bit to completely overhaul the city. Would that mean the name of the airport would be the - Hartsfield Jackson Franklin Atlanta International Airport?!

Oh god, don't even go there. It was corny enough that the airport had to be named after two people, rather than one. They should have just named the new terminals after those people, not the whole airport. "Hartsfield" doesn't have the same ring to it like it once had.

[ATLonthebrain]

Most still call it Hartsfield anyway. I do, even though I know it's Hartsfield-Jackson. To me, naming the new East Terminal after Maynard is enough, or even the entire Midfield Terminal, since that's what was developed during his time as Mayor. To add his name to Hartsfield's diluted it, cheapened it, in my opinion. From what I know, Mayor Hartsfield is the one who made aviation such a focus, and pulled out all the stops to develop the airport and get the initial air mail & passenger routes. If not for that vision and forethought, there would have been no need for a Midfield Terminal in 1980.

Midfield terminal complex named after Maynard. Airport/field itself named after Hartsfield only, no Jackson. Oh well, I wasn't asked, but that's my opinion, and it's done now.

Any air service coming to Macon really has nothing to do with the Atlanta market. The thing is, people are going to drive to ATL because they can get a nonstop flight to virtually any medium-to-large market in the US, and dozens of international destinations. Macon will have service to 2-3 cities, all of which will be hubs (including ATL), and people will have to connect to get anywhere. Is the City and/or Airport offering incentives to airlines? That would be my guess for why there's new interest in serving the market. If Augusta can hardly hold onto its air service, and it is further away yet still loses the majority of its passengers to ATL, what hope does Macon have? Not much, sadly. Finally, if the commuter rail ever actually gets down there, it will come close enough to Hartsfield that there will likely be a link from the closest station to the airport.

[john3eblover]

Originally Posted by Rail Claimore

If/when that time comes, there's Dobbins and Briscoe.

Dobbins is TOO SMALL and TOO CROWDED!!!

[Rail Claimore]

Originally Posted by john3eblover

Dobbins is TOO SMALL and TOO CROWDED!!!

What are you talking about, the longest runway there is big enough to accomodate most any aircraft! Plus, if military operations there ever cease, there's plenty of room to build a terminal on the north side of the runway. We're not talking about an airport the size of Hartsfield, we're talking about a an alternative/reliever more akin to Midway or Hobby.

[Harry Cane]

Speaking of aviation, Delta releases quarterly numbers today. Should be pretty good.

[atlantaguy]

ATLonthebrain is correct, Macon has nothing to do with Atlanta.

An no Trae, the city is NOT growing as fast to the south as it is to the north. It's growing like a weed, but the northside has been going gangbusters for 30 years now and seems to be speeding up more and more (sadly). I would guess that 70% + of the regions travelers live north of I-20. These folks are NOT going to shlep to Macon to fly Southwest. Period.

[john3eblover]

Originally Posted by Rail Claimore

What are you talking about, the longest runway there is big enough to accomodate most any aircraft! Plus, if military operations there ever cease, there's plenty of room to build a terminal on the north side of the runway. We're not talking about an airport the size of Hartsfield, we're talking about a an alternative/reliever more akin to Midway or Hobby.

Dobbins is surrounded by neighborhoods and development, who first of all would NEVER allow a commercial airport to operate there. Secondly, that 1 runway might be physically long enough, but it wouldn't be very efficient. You also need a lot of infrastructure to make an airport work, and Dobbins is just too small. When people talk about building a second Airport for Atlanta, they aren't talking about something the size of Midway, they are talking about something bigger, like Regan, or LaGuardia, etc, with multiple runways capable of significantly handling traffic from Atlanta. Dobbins has been proposed and rejected for years and years and years. Nothing has changed to make it more appropriate.

[john3eblover]

Originally Posted by atlantaguy

ATLonthebrain is correct, Macon has nothing to do with Atlanta.

An no Trae, the city is NOT growing as fast to the south as it is to the north. It's growing like a weed, but the northside has been going gangbusters for 30 years now and seems to be speeding up more and more (sadly). I would guess that 70% + of the regions travelers live north of I-20. These folks are NOT going to shlep to Macon to fly Southwest. Period.

once again, thank you atlantaguy

[Trae]

Originally Posted by atlantaguy

ATLonthebrain is correct, Macon has nothing to do with Atlanta.

An no Trae, the city is NOT growing as fast to the south as it is to the north. It's growing like a weed, but the northside has been going gangbusters for 30 years now and seems to be speeding up more and more (sadly). I would guess that 70% + of the regions travelers live north of I-20. These folks are NOT going to shlep to Macon to fly Southwest. Period.

Isn't that what I said?

[STrek777]

Originally Posted by Harry Cane

Speaking of aviation, Delta releases quarterly numbers today. Should be pretty good.

Very good actually!
****************************************************
Delta reports $1.8 billion profit
Earnings results first since Atlanta-based airline emerged from bankruptcy

By RUSSELL GRANTHAM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 07/18/07

Delta Air Lines reported a second quarter net profit of $1.8 billion, but the results were pumped up by big accounting adjustments related to its emergence from a Chapter 11 restructuring.

Excluding those gains, the Atlanta-based airline said its profit was $274 million, or 70 cents a share, easily exceeding Wall Street forecasts. The results reflect improved industry conditions this year that have lifted the bottom lines of most carriers, as well as the deep cost-cutting and re-working of Delta's flight network and other pieces of its business.

Delta's operating margin, a profit measure that excludes taxes, most accounting charges and other one-time items, was a healthy 9.8 percent.

Revenue topped $5 billion during the quarter, 5.5 percent higher than a year earlier.

In the same quarter of 2006, Delta had posted a $2.2 billion net loss, but that included huge accounting charges related to the bankruptcy case.

The big accounting gains in this year's quarter stemmed from claims and liabilities discharged in the bankruptcy case, as well as from the adoption of so-called "fresh start" accounting rules in the wake of the bankruptcy case.

Most of Delta's revenue gain appeared to come from flying fuller planes and growth in international flying. Traffic rose 5.1 percent and the percentage of seats sold jumped to 82.8 percent vs. 79.7 percent a year earlier. Unit revenue, a key measure, rose 5.6 percent, to 11.78 cents per seat-mile.

Delta, which had long lagged the industry in unit revenue -- or how much it takes in for each passenger-mile flown -- said unit revenue is now at 96 percent of the industry average, up from 86 percent at the end of 2005.

"Our accomplishments this quarter are solid proof that our plan is working," Delta Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian told employees in a memo Wednesday. He said the airline banked $79 million in profit sharing as a result, which will be paid out to employees next year if the airline meets its targets.

Delta's unit costs also rose almost 2 percent during the quarter, partly from accounting for future profit-sharing payouts and for stock-related awards after the company emerged from bankruptcy.

The airline's average cost of fuel dropped slightly, to $2.05 per gallon from $2.14.

Delta ended the latest quarter with $3.4 billion in unrestricted cash after recently re-negotiating some of its financing and credit card processing agreements to boost its reserves.

Delta in late April emerged from a 19-month trip through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, which saw it shed billions in debt, slash jobs and restructure routes.

"Delta's emergence from bankruptcy was a significant milestone in the history of the company and the airline industry," Delta Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein said in a press release. "In delivering the kind of outstanding financial, operational and customer service results we saw this quarter, it is clear Delta people at every level are producing a strong airline with a bright future."

Delta's financial release shed no light on the status of its plans to name a successor to Grinstein, 75, who has said he expects to leave the airline this summer.

Leading internal candidates are finance chief Ed Bastian and operations chief Jim Whitehurst, but Delta's new board has also retained a search firm to look externally.

In a conference call with investors, Grinstein signaled that the search could take longer than he expected.

"Given the magnitude of this decision, [Delta's board of directors] is taking a deliberative and determined approach," he said. Grinstein has said he hopes for an internal successor.

[ThrashATL]

Atlanta airport breaks records

By JIM THARPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 07/20/07

The world's busiest airport is poised to break a number or records this year as summer travelers pack airplanes, crowd security checkpoints and jam long-term parking lots.

More than 86.5 million fliers will pass through Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport by year's end, according to the latest airport projections. That's up from 85 million passengers last year.

The airport also is expected to log nearly 1 million operations — take-offs and landings — this year, averaging nearly 3,000 per day.

Hartsfield-Jackson broke an intraday record earlier this week. On Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., the airport handled a record 218 take-offs and landings. The same day the airport set a single day record of 3,103 operations, according to numbers compiled by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"We're moving a lot of people and a lot of metal," said Ben DeCosta, the airport's general manager.

The numbers are a mixed blessing for the airport. More passengers equates to more revenue, but it also means longer security lines during peak travel periods and hard-to-find airport parking spots.

The number of fliers has been steadily increasing across the nation in the last few years as the airline industry recovers from the slump it encountered after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

[john3eblover]

Airport search crosses state line
The Tennessee option: Northwestern Georgia legislator and others see Chattanooga as good spot for Atlanta's second commercial airfield.

By JIM THARPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/30/07

Some aviation experts and at least one influential Georgia state senator think that a second commercial airport for metro Atlanta doesn't have to be in the metro area. In fact, they argue, it doesn't even have to be in Georgia.

[ Post your comments below. ]

A small but growing chorus of voices has begun pushing the idea that the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport just across the line in Tennessee could be substantially expanded, eliminating — or at least delaying — the need for a second Atlanta airport.

"Going to Chattanooga, especially for the population north of the city, is a legitimate prospect," said Bruce Seaman, a Georgia State University economics professor who has conducted several studies on aviation issues related to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

State Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), who chairs the Senate's Transportation Committee, likes the Chattanooga idea. Mullis said he thinks an improved Chattanooga airport could draw Georgians from all along the I-75 corridor — Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow counties and points north.

Mullis, however, thinks the airport would have to be connected to the northern suburbs via high-speed rail for the idea to work.

"I think many people in the northern areas would consider the Chattanooga possibility, especially with the traffic problems we have in the Atlanta area," Mullis said. "It would be a smart concept as opposed to building a new airport."

The federal government awarded Atlanta a $1 million grant this year to study ways to increase capacity at Hartsfield-Jackson, the world's busiest airport. Federal transportation officials have strongly suggested that Atlanta look at a second airport to take the pressure off Hartsfield-Jackson, which could begin to reach capacity in a decade or so.

The mere hint of a second airport has jump-started the debate about where it should be located, north or south of the city. The "north" argument makes sense because that would put it near the major population centers, aviation experts say. But big chunks of land in the fast-growing region are scarce and expensive. And perhaps more important, it would be politically difficult to put any new airport near the sprawling north metro suburbs.

Proponents say the Chattanooga argument overcomes many of those obstacles.

The argument goes like this: Expand the existing Chattanooga facility, and add more flights — its longest runway already surpasses the longest ones at Washington's Reagan National and New York's LaGuardia — to woo passengers from north metro Atlanta. That, in turn, would free up Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson for long-haul domestic and international flights and the millions of passengers who now use it only to transfer from one flight to the next.

"If you siphon off a bunch of people to Chattanooga for U.S. routes it essentially becomes a de facto second airport," said Seaman. "A lot of people out of the northern suburbs are not making complicated connections. They're going to Chicago or Denver or New York. They don't need to go to Hartsfield-Jackson for that."

Paulding County resident Gary Badertscher flies out of Hartsfield-Jackson several times a week for his window coverings business. It takes him about an hour and 15 minutes to get to Hartsfield-Jackson. It's a 90-minute drive to Chattanooga, he said.

"If there were a high-speed train that I could drive to that would get me to the Chattanooga airport in another 20 minutes [less], I'd do it," Badertscher said. "You can count on delays out of Hartsfield-Jackson in the afternoon. If I could cut the commute time to the airport, and then cut delays in the air, I'd be all for it."

But loan officer Kevin Jones of Vinings said it takes him only 20 minutes to get to Hartsfield-Jackson. A less-crowded Chattanooga option would have less interest for him.

"It would depend on price for me," Jones said. "If they could offer cheaper flights from Chattanooga, then I might consider it."

Chattanooga's airport is now a very small David to Hartsfield-Jackson's Goliath. Chattanooga handles about 50 flights a day and about 500,000 passengers a year. Hartsfield-Jackson sees about 3,000 take-offs and landings per day and expects 86 million passengers this year.

Mike Landguth, president and CEO of the Chattanooga airport, said traffic at the small facility is up 20 percent this year as more fliers from North Georgia begin to cross the border.

"It is our hope that [federal agencies] will adequately fund airport infrastructure development to ensure airports like Chattanooga are positioned to meet the needs of our growing traveling community and provide relief to megahubs like Atlanta," Landguth said.

Ben DeCosta, Hartsfield-Jackson's general manager, declined comment on the Chattanooga idea. DeCosta has repeatedly declined comment on where he would like to see a second airport. He is expected to appoint a panel in coming months to study increasing Hartsfield-Jackson's capacity.

State Sen. Mullis, meanwhile, said he had several "informal discussions" about the Chattanooga idea with various officials. Mullis said he plans to meet with DeCosta in coming months to discuss the concept.

"I think you'll see discussions of this kicked up a notch in the future," he said.

[Trae]

That is the worst idea I have heard.