I don't think Point-to-Point travel will work for large airlines like Delta, Continental, United, and so forth. I mean, the system before deregulation was like that, and the airlines that didn't switch after deregulation (in most cases, not all), bled money. Southwest is the second-largest airline in the world
by number of passengers traveled, but they also own nearly 550 planes and only fly to 68 destinations. Comparable airlines of that size have upwards of over 250 destinations across the world. To expect an airline like Delta to replicate system like Southwest almost isn't feasible. Plus, Southwest maintains notable large bases of operations at places like Chicago-Midway, Denver, Baltimore-Washington, and Phoenix. Having to fly Phoenix-Baltimore-New York and Phoenix-Midway-New York isn't exactly point-to-point, and is not that appealing taking in the time it takes to get there and the competitive prices on other airlines (which do exist if you're flying a route where Southwest competes on)
A second airport requires airlines, and the only ones that I can think of that would possibly want to switch to an airport miles away from the business districts of Atlanta (Well, at least Perimeter Center/Buckhead/Cumberland-Vinings/Midtown/Downtown, at least), would be Southwest and possibly JetBlue, the latter of which pulled out because of stiff competetion from Airtran AND Delta (which it would still face price and service-wise even if it was at another Atlanta-Area airport). And if Southwest can obtain just ONE gate at ATL, they operate efficently from it. Airtran and Delta operate Hubs at ATL, and you can't really have one plane land in Gwinettt County and then tell your passengers you have two hours to find a way to Clayton County, so they'd be out, except maybe to cities with high O&D like Chicago and New York (expect only a few flights a day, unlike the 35+ we have now). Smaller airlines, like US Airways and United, probably wouldn't move, because moving puts them farther away from the business centers of Atlanta. And let's face it, Business and First Class makes up a significant part of an airline's revenue, more than we think. The airport would sit empty. Let's not forget MidAmerica St. Louis Airport and Montréal-Mirabel International Airport. If gate space and traffic congestion goes down at ATL, the second airport will most definitely flop.
In my opinion, five runways + a better ATC system should be enough to alleviate delays, but if a sixth runway must be built, it would be better north of 10/28. That way, they won't have to buy out people's homes, schools, and warehouses, and businesses, and use most of their land for construction of a new runway. Plus, an end-around taxiway (like Taxiway Victor, which is being used for 8R/26L and 8L/26L) called Taxiway Whiskey is in the planning stages for 10/28 already. Taxi times should improve even if no new runways are built, and delays should go down even further if a sixth runway is built.
More information on this situation, and some on Taxiway Whiskey, can be found
here.
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