Atlanta the World's Busiest Airport in Terms of Passengers and Movements

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International holds the proud title of being the world s busiest passenger airport. In 2004 it handled 83.6 million passengers and averaged 2,643 daily movements, and in 2005 this figure increased to 85,907,423 and 980,197 movements, thus cementing its position at the top spot.

The Georgia city is home to Sky Team's Delta Air Lines and although the US major is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the airline has every intention of maintaining traffic activity levels atits main base and hub --where it and its regional partners account for 77% of traffic. Florida-based budget carrier, Air Tran, also has aconsiderable presence here accounting for 13% of traffic handled.

To sustain future growth, Atlanta is investing the largest sum of any US airport on a series of expansion projects. Yet it has to do this within the confines of a relatively small--by US standards--3,750 acre (1,517ha) site. This land area is a fraction of that available to rival airports, such as Dallas Fort Worth, Denver or Orlando.

A midfield terminal complex covers 130 acres (52.6ha) or 5.8 million square feet (538,820[m.sup.2]). The main terminal building is the point of access for ground transportation and is linked to six parallel concourses by an automated underground train system. To handle theairport's domestic and international traffic patterns there are fivedomestic concourses: T, A, B, C and D in addition to the single international Concourse E. These offer approximately 148 domestic and 28 international gates.

The main terminal is divided into north and south terminals, the southern being used almost exclusively by Delta. A ground transportation centre lies to the west of the main terminal Just inside the building is the MARTA station from where trains regularly connect with downtown Atlanta.

When Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics it of course resultedin increased international passenger traffic but since then the figures have more than doubled to around seven million in 2004. And with the US domestic market now fully recovered from 9/11, the airport hasput in place the largest airport investment plan in US history. Backin 1999 the Hartsfield-Jackson Improvement Program (H-JDP) mapped out an ongoing $6+ billion ten-year investment. In April 2001 the project took its first major step when ground was broken on a fifth parallel runway, and work on this is now nearing completion. To provide an adequate view of the runway for controllers a new $31 million 398ft (121.3m) tower will become operational this spring in time for the runway's opening.

The next major phase will be a ten-gate extension to the international concourse that will be joined by an underground people-mover to the existing Concourse E. The airport's old tower will be demolished to make way for the new facility. Adesign contract for this expansionproject had been awarded but when the developer's plans came in lateand $140 million over budget, Atlanta's General Manager Ben DeCosta dismissed the consortium involved. Mr DeCosta is confident a new dealwill soon be reached with another company, but now the new facility is unlikely to be ready before 2010.

Vast improvements to car rental facilities, currently the fourth busiest in the US, should be completed in April next year. At a cost of $479 million a new consolidated rental car area (CONRAC) will covera total 90 acres (36.4ha). The 8,700-car CONRACsite is located to the west of existing facilities on the other side of Interstate 85. Upon its opening, the shuttle bus service to car rental lots will be replaced by an automated people-mover, thereby removing a considerable amount of bus traffic from local roads.