Drivers planning to park at the airport should tune to AM830 for the latest traffic updates and parking garage statuses. Alternately, there is a 24-hour call-in line (404-530-5010) for recorded information. Short-term lots are available and cost $1 for the first two-hours and $2 for the next four hours. These lots are directly in front of the terminals. Long Term ParkingEconomy Parking lots are close to the main parking decks, yet farther from the airport. They can be useful for long-term parking.
The parking rates are $2 an hour or $10 per day making them perfect for long term stays. Those needing lots closer to the airport terminals should instead use Daily Parking. Three of the four levels are covered keeping vehicles sheltered from inclement weather. Rates in the Daily Parking lot are $2 per hour or $14 per day. Discount Airport ParkingThe Economy Parking area is inexpensive, but the Airport Park-Ride lots are the cheapest daily option. They are farthest from the airport and require the use of shuttle vans to bring passengers to the main airport terminal. Here the lots are $1 per hour or $9 per day. Handicapped ParkingThere are many handicapped spots available in each parking garage, but vehicle height can be an issue.
Those with taller trucks and vans are asked to park in the Park-Ride Lots and then take the handicapped accessible shuttles to the main terminal. Also, passengers with disabilities are welcome to call the airport's parking division and ask for the free handicapped shuttles that will meet them at their car. That number is 404-209-1700. Airport Hotel ParkingFor travelers who are taking early morning flights or arriving late at night, the area hotels offering Park, Sleep, & Fly packages are excellent choices. These hotels offer free shuttles to and/or from the airport and provide up to fourteen days of free parking with at a stay of at least one night. AmeriSuites Atlanta Airport North, Comfort Inn & Suites Old National Parkway, Comfort Inn & Suites Virginia Avenue, Comfort Inn & Suites Camp Creek, Country Inn & Suites Airport South, Howard Johnson Atlanta Airport, La Quinta Inn & Suites Airport, Red Roof Inn Airport North, and Westin Atlanta Airport all offer packages that include up to seven days of parking. After this, the hotels charge $5 per day.
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Atlanta International Airport holds the title of the world's busiest airport, yet its structure makes it one of the easier airports to navigate. Being approximately ten miles from downtown Atlanta also makes it an excellent spot for tourists and business travelers alike. A total of five parallel runways handle the large number of daily flights that arrive and fly out of Atlanta every day. According to 2006 statistics, more than 84 million passengers used Atlanta for domestic, international, and transit flights. The ATL has a unique three and a half mile underground system that connects all terminals making it easy to travel from area to area within a matter of minutes.
Trains run every two minutes ensuring that passengers need not wait long. With more than 200 stores and restaurants, those with long layovers will find there is plenty to see and do. Businesses enjoy the huge conference center located in the atrium area. There are twenty-three meeting rooms, many computer work areas, video conferencing capabilities, and even catering services. Automated External Defibrillators are scattered throughout the airport in each terminal. With more than 200 of these machines available, those having a cardiac event are assured of immediate treatment. Finally, smokers need not worry. There are a number of smoking lounges found on the airport grounds.
T-Gates has a smoking area near gates 4 and 13. Smoking areas area also available at Concourse A near Gates 14 and 23 and in the Budweiser Brewhouse. Concourse B has smoking lounges near Gates 7 and 24. Concourse C has smoking lounges near Gates 16 and 26. Concourse D's smoking lounges are near Gate 9 and in the Sojourner's Lounge. Concourse E has smoking lounges near Gates 9, 17, and 29. These areas are away from public areas, so it can be a bit of a walk to find them.
FAA diagram of Atlanta International Airport (ATL)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] Additionally, Delta Air Lines operates the world's largest airline hub from the airport. AirTran Airways also operates its largest hub at the airport. The airport is the primary hub of Delta Air Lines, AirTran Airways, and Delta Connection partner Atlantic Southeast Airlines. The airport has 180 gates. Delta Air Lines flew 56% of passengers from the airport in 2007, AirTran flew 19%, and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew 12%. [2]
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. Sixty-two percent [3] of Hartsfield-Jackson's airport passengers do not stay in Atlanta but go on connecting flights elsewhere.[citation needed] As an international gateway to the United States, Hartsfield-Jackson ranks seventh; John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City is first.[4] However, the airport is increasingly becoming a major gateway for passengers boarding flights for other countries. In the first half of 2007 Atlanta's airport had one of the fastest rates of international passenger growth in the nation with international traffic jumping 12.2 percent over the first six months of the previous year. More than 1.95 million passengers boarded international flights at Hartsfield-Jackson operated by U.S. carriers from January through December 2008 [[4]], ranking it No. 2 in the nation behind Miami International Airport for the total number of international enplanements on U.S. airlines.[5]
The ATL 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. [6]Hartsfield-Jackson is one of only a few airports that can perform triple simultaneous landings.
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 College Park, East Point, and Hapeville extend to the airport grounds.
Air traffic controllers for tower and ground control operations referring to the letter "D" use the word "Dixie" instead of "Delta" to avoid confusion with Delta Air Lines aircraft.[citation needed]
The airport 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.[7]
History
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[citation needed]. 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 fifth runway (10-28) began. It was completed and opened in May 2006.[8] 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.
In 2003, Atlanta's city council voted on October 20 to change the name from Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport to the current 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.
Atlanta International Airport [9] is the world's third largest airport at 5.8 million square feet (~0.54 km²), behind Hong Kong International Airport and Suvarnabhumi Airport.[citation needed] It serves as the chief hub to Delta Air Lines and AirTran Airways [10] and mostly handles air traffic to other parts of the United States and Canada. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has international service to North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Hartsfield-Jackson has two terminals where passengers check in and claim bags [11], 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. [12]
Six airside concourses exist for passenger boarding, and each of them are parallel to each other. The first concourse is directly connected to the 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. Concourse E, which was opened in 1996 in time for the summer Olympic Games, is the international terminal. The concourses are connected by an underground Transportation Mall, which runs under the center of each concourse.
The Automated People Mover
Main article: Atlanta International Airport Automated People Mover
In addition to the pedestrian walkway, the Transportation Mall also features an automated people mover. The people mover has stations at each of the six concourses. There is also a 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.
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.
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.[16]
The first of the projects undertaken, the airport's fifth runway, opened on May 27, 2006. 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. At the cost of $1.28 billion, this 9,000-foot (2,700 m) runway is the first runway added to the ATL since 1984. 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].
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 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. It would add ten new gates able to hold wide-body jets, plus check-in desks and a baggage claim area for international carriers. 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[18] 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.[19] 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.[16]
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 [20]. 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.
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.[21]
The thirty-five year old runway 8R-26L was rehabbed and reopened on November 4, 2006.
An "end-around taxiway", officially named Taxiway Victor, which opened in April 2007, 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 hindering other aircraft taking off. The taxiway drops approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) from the runway elevation to allow takeoffs to continue.
Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. International Terminal
This terminal is currently under construction, with completion scheduled for 2011.[16] It will be located on the east side of the airport, near Delta Air Lines' Technical Operations Center (TechOps), on a site that has been occupied by air cargo facilities and the midfield control tower. The airport transit system will be extended to connect to the new terminal. Unlike the present situation, arriving international passengers whose final destination is Atlanta will be able to retain possession of their baggage as they proceed to exit the airport. Currently persons exiting customs must recheck baggage at Terminal E, take the Airport People Mover to the Main Terminals, and reclaim their luggage from the baggage carousels.
South Gate Complex
The South Gate Complex is scheduled to be built after completion of the East International Terminal. This new terminal is planned to have up to 70 gates.No official name for the terminal has been announced as of yet. Construction has not yet begun on the South Gate Complex as of 2007.
This is to be located on the east side of the airport, near Delta Air Lines' Technical Operations Center (TechOps), on a site that has been occupied by air cargo facilities and the midfield control tower. The airport transit system will be extended to connect to the new terminal. Unlike the present situation involving concourses, arriving international passengers whose final destination is Atlanta will be able to retain possession of their baggage as they proceed to exit the airport. Direct roadside access is another factor which differentiates this terminal from the concourses. It is expected to open in 2010 at the earliest. When built, International Terminal F will have 10 new gates: F1 - F10, and a new customs facility.
