Hartsfield International Airport - Multi-Billion Dollar Jackson Int'l. Terminal
 

I can't believe this has not been discussed in the transportation thread. Hartsfield is wrapping up a $6 BILLION capital plan, which includes a new 1.2 million SF addition to the international termina, set to open next year. It is nearly complete and will add 12 gates, each able to fit a 747-800 and maybe even an A380. Traffic coming through the airport is expected to reach 120 million passengers by 2025, and there is certainly going to be an increase in international traffic.

The project is absolutely huge and anyone flying through Hartsfield has probably seen it and wondered what such massive building UC it was. It is the new Jackson International Terminal, and it is so massive that it is going to have its own interstate exit directly from 75 and its own parking and drive up. Currently all passengers must come through the A terminal and take the underground mover to the E Terminal, which has international flights, but this will make it much more convenient.

Air France and Lufthansa are each commencing A380 service to Atlanta once the terminal is opened and one of the runways is widened. This is big time.

Renderings

• Video Link

Atlanta Poised to Attract International Travelers

Slideshow: Preview of the Jackson International Terminal Set to Open in Spring

Can't wait to see it for myself, and it can't come soon enough. International traffic at ATL is up 10% this year, right there with EWR and ORD.

FYI the new Boeing jumbo is designated 747-8 (for whatever reason).

No, Actually, KE will bring A380 in ATL and they will be at new concourse F. I am not sure for which one is that. The new 747-8I won't be in ATL for a while.

I can believe it because there's over 1,500 posts about Hartsville's expansion under the Atlanta forum.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...102191&page=77

Do we really need 1,500 posts about one particular subject twice?

WHEEEE! Even more space for them to lose your luggage and cause you to miss your connection in!

(Sorry guys, I just couldn't resist.)

Wow, you need to chill out. Many if not most of the projects mentioned on the Transportation Forum are in cities/regions that also have their own forums. Besides I never even knew there was an Atlanta specific forum, which after having checked does not get that much action. The last post in the specific thread you linked was in June and the thread spanned half this decade and multiple projects.

Also, this is one of if not the largest commercial aviation project in the country right now. I think it deserves mention in the public transportation thread.

Actually British Airways flies the 747-800 Freighter into Hartsfield.

Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson still the busiest airport in the world.
 

Hartsfield-Jackson still world’s busiest airport in 2011
Atlanta Business Chronicle

The airport said its passenger traffic was up 3.5 percent from 2010 to 2011 -- the busiest year on record for Atlanta’s airport. Hartsfield-Jackson saw 92.39 million passengers pass through -- up 2.6 percent over the previous record of 90 million passengers in 2008.

Hartsfield-Jackson’s passenger numbers went up 3.5 percent from 89.24 million in 2010 to 92.39 million in 2011. The number of international passengers jumped 7.7 percent year-over-year to 9.86 million.

Landings and takeoffs dipped 2.8 percent to 923,996, due mostly to airlines’ reduced use of smaller regional aircraft, according to airport officials.

Total air cargo was up 0.61 percent to 663,162 metric tons in 2011, airport officials said.

I wish the architecture was a little more inspiring but like everything else at Hartsfield, it's function over form. Despite its huge size, I find Atlanta's airport to be very easy to navigate.

tdawg:
For today, at least, I'd have to concur with this. I was in ATL for business today. I left our office at 3:15 PM and took MARTA one stop to the airport. My flight was scheduled for 5:15 but I got my boarding pass and got through the TSA screening with enough time to get a seat on the 4:15 ATL-DCA flight. Not bad at all for the nation's busiest airport.

When we arrived yesterday, it took us about five minutes to get from the gate to the MARTA station. Who would think that this sprawling, sunbelt city has such a good rail-airport connection?

The new concourse F that opens this spring should have some nice architecture for you.

If these numbers are accurate, then ATL is now the #5 US airport for international passengers, having passed ORD this year.

JFK - 21,995,546 (through November)
MIA - 18,417,513
LAX - 16,731,324
EWR - 10,614,000 (through November)
ATL - 9,856,954
ORD - 9,557,529

http://www.panynj.gov/airports/pdf-t...OV2011_JFK.PDF
http://www.miami-airport.com/monthly...c_Dec_2011.asp
http://www.lawa.org/uploadedfiles/LA.../tcom-1211.pdf
http://www.panynj.gov/airports/pdf-t...OV2011_EWR.PDF
http://www.atlanta-airport.com/docs/Traffic/201112.pdf
http://www.ohare.com/PDF/Statistics/...ummary_ord.pdf

I wonder why Newark has so many? You'd think Logan or certainly Dulles would have more international arrivals.

Newark is a major hub of what was Continental (now United). Most non-New Yorkers don't realize that it's faster to get to Newark by train than to JFK from Manhattan and LaGuardia is primarily a focus of domestic air travel.

ardecila:
JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark also all have hourly limits on the number of flights at the three airports. LaGuardia has the perimeter rule, limiting international flights to destinations in Canada and the Caribbean. JFK is limited to 81 flights per hour and many of those flights are to domestic destinations, so Newark serves to accommodate some of this international demand that can't be met at JFK.

Newark also has a different catchment area than JFK. For international flights to Asia, Europe, and other destinations, I wouldn't be surprised if Newark can attract some passengers from the Philly-area.

Finally, as noted above, Newark is a huge hub for United/Contental, so there are many connecting passengers from other places in the US. Logan on the other hand, is almost entirely origin/destination traffic.

The New York Metropolitan area is simply a much larger market for international travel than either Boston or even DC. Not only that, but the area can be divided geographically by the Hudson River. For people in NJ, JFK is very inconvenient to get to, and vice versa for most people in NY outside Staten Island and Manhattan.

Congrats to ATL for a banner year and continue investment in the Airport. Just sad to see how far ORD has fallen, AA is slashing routes, UA-CO haven't announced any new Int'l routes since the merger. Everything is going to SF, IAH, EWR And IAD.

Yeah Delta shifted it's focus from Atlanta to Detroit for Asian routes, and cut international service to Europe from Atlanta also. I expect growth from Atlanta to come from Southwest in 2012. Delta will be focusing on it's new Laguardia hub in 2012

Those international cuts were made a couple years ago, but international traffic overall kept growing through that period and keeps growing. DL made most of their cuts at ATL to more remote cities in the Midwest and West, putting them through DTW and SLC instead.