Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport

[CLTNC]

USAir/Delta merger is a bad idea. I don't think it will pass the DOJ review.

[tennreb]

Originally Posted by atlantaguy

I read somewhere last week that Northwest has some sort of Minnesota-backed "poison pill" type thing in place to ensure the HQ's remains in the Twin Cities.......Hope I read it wrong, because I really can see Delta & Northwest linking up.

The articles I've seen refer to NWA buying Delta, not the other way around. That may not have any effect on the location of the headquarters, though. I'd place my money on Atlanta.

[atlantaguy]

Well, in a NW/Delta combo I think the Memphis hub would be safer than a lot of other combinations being talked about.

The HQ's thing is a huge deal for us. There are thousands of high paying white collar jobs out there, and Delta has always been a huge benefactor to the arts/charitable causes, etc. It would be the worst possible thing I can think of to loose......

[CLTNC]

Do you think US Air would move its HQ to Atlanta with a Delta merger?

[atlantaguy]

No - They love Tempe too much it seems........

[tennreb]

Originally Posted by atlantaguy

Well, in a NW/Delta combo I think the Memphis hub would be safer than a lot of other combinations being talked about.

The HQ's thing is a huge deal for us. There are thousands of high paying white collar jobs out there, and Delta has always been a huge benefactor to the arts/charitable causes, etc. It would be the worst possible thing I can think of to loose......

It's a blow to the South as it is one of the truly Southern companies. It's more Southern than Coca-Cola. It's long been known to have the best flight attendants because they recruit from a pool of attractive, hospitable Southern women. The company is after all named after the Mississippi Delta.

[sabino86]

USAir sucks (but you already knew that)

[atlantaguy]

Originally Posted by tennreb

It's a blow to the South as it is one of the truly Southern companies. It's more Southern than Coca-Cola. It's long been known to have the best flight attendants because they recruit from a pool of attractive, hospitable Southern women. The company is after all named after the Mississippi Delta.

That's right! Started as a crop dusting outfit in Monroe, I think? Delta is as Southern as it gets.

[SteveD]

There's an interesting article in the AJC today discussing redevelopment plans for the former Ford auto plant in Hapeville adjacent to the airport on the east side. According to the article, a significant portion of that tract can not be redeveloped since it is in the protected approach zone for one of the runways. The auto plant had been developed prior to that runway construction and had been "grandfathered" into the approach zone. Assuming that auto plant will eventually be demolished, and that it can not be redeveloped, It seems like there will eventually be some pretty killer runway views from I-75 of the airport to the west, once the Ford auto plant is gone.

[atlantaguy]

That's pretty cool, I'll have to check that out. So I assume this will be some nice new green space there.....

[atlantaguy]

This is the "Missing Link" that we really need.........

Delta makes 3rd bid for China routes
Routes would link Shanghai, Atlanta in '08

By RUSSELL GRANTHAM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/19/07

Delta Air Lines is launching another bid for China flights, applying Friday for government permission to serve Shanghai nonstop from Atlanta starting in 2008.

The Atlanta carrier touted its China plans at a news conference with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

City and business leaders vowed at the event to mount an aggressive campaign to help Delta win the route.

"We should have already been there, and this time we're going to be there," said Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

The flights would connect the "commercial and financial center of the world's largest country with Delta's expansive route hub at Atlanta-Hartsfield, the largest hub in the world," Delta said in an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Delta bid for flight rights to Beijing in two prior route cases, but the much-coveted rights went to rivals or cargo carriers. Delta had previously said it hoped to begin flying between Atlanta and Beijing before the Olympics open there in 2008.

Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin said Shanghai is now more attractive partly because it has fewer daily flights to the United States than Beijing — five vs. seven — even though with 18 million people it is a larger city and the world's biggest port.

"Delta is without question the best choice for the next airline designation to China," Delta Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein said in a written statement. "We are confident that this new route will provide a significant boost to trade and tourism worldwide and will provide unparalleled access for customers traveling to and from China."

The new service would be on Boeing 777s, widebody jets with roughly 270 seats. Delta next year expects to upgrade seats in its BusinessElite cabins so that they convert to flat beds. A Shanghai flight would be Delta's longest from Atlanta, at almost 7,700 miles. It would take about 15 hours, depending on direction and winds.

But first, Delta has to win the competition against American Airlines and other carriers that also want more routes to China. After losing in the previous cases, Delta is the largest U.S. carrier without a presence in one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

Route cases have become increasingly high-stakes, public contests, with carriers setting up promotional Web sites and enlisting employees and politicians to bombard the DOT with testimonials.

Last week, the DOT awarded tentative approval to United Airlines to begin daily service between Washington and Beijing in late March, after a route case open only to carriers already serving China. American withdrew its application from that case and is expected to throw its hat into the ring again for a 2008 route.

Under a bilateral agreement with China, next year's route awards will be open to newcomers as well as cargo and passenger carriers already there.

In its filing, Delta argues that its proposed route would provide the only nonstop China flights from the Southeast, and the only service to Shanghai from the eastern United States.

Delta has been laying groundwork in China.

It opened a sales office last year in Shanghai, it has lobbied government officials on both sides of the Pacific, and it has participated in various trade delegations, workshops and conferences.

Friday's City Hall event highlighted state and local government support.

Franklin, who went to Shanghai in September as part of a state trade delegation, said Atlanta wants to help Delta win the route and also persuade China to open a consulate here.

[micropundit]

Atlanta Business Chronicle - 7:30 AM EST Mondayby Rachel Tobin RamosStaff Writer
In the shadow of the busiest airport in the world, College Park, Ga., soon will have two new hotels, a five-story class-A office building and 40,000 square feet of retail in a two-phase, multi-million deal with Atlanta-based Grove Street Partners.

The more than $200 million development is part of a master plan the College Park City Council approved last week, according to sources close to the deal. It will be called the "Gateway Center," and will be part of the 150,000-square-foot Georgia International Convention Center complex. A memorandum of understanding between College Park and Grove Street will be signed at a press conference on Jan. 23, the sources said.

While the deal isn't complete, Grove Street hopes to bring Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) to the table to manage the hotels, sources confirmed.

The 400-room convention headquarters hotel will have 10,000 square feet of meeting space, a parking deck and large restaurant space, and could be flagged a Marriott.

A smaller, 150-suite hotel could get the Marriott Spring Hill Suites flag. That deal between Grove Street and Marriott could close in March.

The existing Atlanta Airport Marriott is already the largest hotel in the airport submarket, with 649 rooms, so it's unclear how the two hotels would handle the close competition. The Atlanta Airport Marriott is the seventh largest hotel in Atlanta. The new 400-room hotel would rank as the 21st largest hotel in Atlanta by rooms, according to data from Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2006-2007 Book of Lists.

The new College Park hotels will break ground in September and are set to open in 2009, when a people mover system connecting Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to an off-site rental car facility is also set to open.
The Georgia International Convention Center will be the middle stop on the people mover route, which College Park boosters believe will make it a convenient destination for conventioneers, especially with the addition of the hotels.

The convention center has about a 62 percent occupancy rate, but has needed full-service hotels to snag group meetings and other business.

Grove Street also is in discussions for a lead tenant in the 135,000-square-foot office building, and is targeting aviation-related businesses that want to be near the airport.

As the Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported on July 21, College Park issued the request for proposal last summer, after buying the land from Dutch billionaire John Fentener van Vlissingen for $25.8 million. Van Vlissingen and his partners had tried to develop the nearly 29-acre parcel themselves, but College Park wanted to speed up the process so that the hotels would open with the new people mover in 2009.

Grove Street's development ideas beat out three other proposals. The second phase of their development could include a third hotel and more office space, and will include 40,000 square feet of retail.

Grove Street was founded in 2004 by Kevin Kern and Chip Groome. The company recently hired Jim Stormont from consultancy Stormont Waterman Partners LLC. Stormont also is a veteran of Marriott Corp., Stormont Trice Corp., Stormont Hospitality Group LLC and Noble Investment Group LLC. He will lead Grove Street's hospitality efforts.

Veteran Atlanta developer and founder and former CEO of Post Properties Inc. John Williams also is an investor and partner in Grove Street.

Grove Street was recently selected to develop the area around the Cobb Performing Arts Center. It is developing an office project called Parsons Meadow in Johns Creek and 1.6 million square feet of industrial property in Henry and Jackson counties north of Atlanta.

[Fiorenza]

Van Vlissingen's people were totally upset by the treatment they received from College Park.

[micropundit]

January 23, 2007
By Tom Dworetzky, News Editor



The City of College Park, Ga., and master developer Grove Street Partners are moving forward on a $230 million mixed-use project adjacent to the Georgia International Convention Center at the Gateway Center less than a mile from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The development will have approximately 1.1 million square feet of office, retail and hotel space.

Gateway Center will be the first stop on the airport's expanded automated people mover system, which is currently under construction and marks the first expansion of the airport's internal transit system outside of Hartsfield-Jackson. "Mixed-use development at the Gateway Center brings new hotel, office and retail amenities to an area, College Park and south metro Atlanta, that to date has been underserved,". We have been working on it since May 2006," Kevin Kern, president of Grove Street Partners, told CPN. "I think the location of this property and its connectivity to the airport will really give this project the opportunity to be the best piece of real estate in the airport market."

The development is in keeping with the latest thinking in airport-area design, an idea that promotes the creation of an "aerotropolis," which has higher-density, mixed-use development surrounding high-capacity airports. Kern explained that his firm's approach is in keeping with this new thinking. "Not only does (our development) allow business customers to have access to quality hotels in the airport area, but it allows out of town business groups to come into town and have an opportunity for Class A office space right at the airport--without going into town," he observed.

Gateway Center's master plan calls for a 400-room headquarters hotel and an additional 150-room suites hotel. The hotels' flag will be announced once negotiations are finalized, and both hotels are expected to open in the first quarter of 2009.

Additionally, Grove Street will develop four Class-A office buildings totaling 468,000 square feet. The first office building is a five-story development totaling 135,000 square feet, and will begin construction upon significant preleasing. Gateway Center also will include retail development and restaurant outparcels totaling more than 75,000 square feet.

The new mixed-use development complements the GICC, which opened in 2004 and offers Georgia's newest and most technologically advanced meeting space, as well as the largest ballroom in the state at 40,000 square feet.

For the Gateway mixed-use development, Grove Street has assembled an a team to design, build and manage the project, including Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates and Goode Van Slyke Architecture, who designed the development. Skanska and C.W. Moody Construction Co. will serve as general contractors. MHR International and Boyken International will serve as project manager, and MHR's Mike Ross will also be a partner in the new development.

[sabino86]

These are some old postcards of the airport when it first opened:

1981:


1982 (Note the absence of Concourse E and the unused MARTA station at the bottom of the pic):

[Harry Cane]

Half of Concourse T wasn’t built yet, either. Those were added later. To think that there was a time when all of our international traffic could be accommodated with 7 gates.

I remember right before the new airport was officially opened, they had an open house and you could run through all the concourses and terminals. It was cool.

Btw, the airport remodeling/improvements are coming along very nicely. The new flooring looks great.

[SteveD]

Article in today's AJC indicates international traffic is up substantially from '05 to '06 and has doubled in the last 10 years. The increase in international traffic reportedly was enough to offset a slight decrease in domestic traffic, and the combination kept ATL the busiest in the World.

[sabino86]

Originally Posted by Harry Cane

Half of Concourse T wasn’t built yet, either. Those were added later. To think that there was a time when all of our international traffic could be accommodated with 7 gates.

Wow, I did not notice that!

[ATLonthebrain]

I thought the original International Terminal only had 4-gates. Was it actually 7? There were two expansions, IIRC. The first was a 3-gate and then there was the other that added the southern half and doubled gate capacity. The fact that the international component was an afterthought to the original Midfield Terminal design makes me think it wasn't 7-gates initially. That would appear to be too much for the demand at the time. I believe we were only talking about British Caledonian from London and a couple of DL & EA flights. There was probably another foreign carrier in the mix, like either Lufthansa or Sabena. I'm remembering early shots of the Midfield with those logo's on the tails of widebodies parked at the int'l gates. That International Terminal was designed after the rest of the complex was already underway, and opened either at the same time or very close to the grand Midfield Terminal debut on 9/21/80.

By the way, I flew into ATL yesterday, and I must say the place is looking incredibly good. I walked parts of Concourses B, C & D, and also passed through most of the Main Terminal. Bathrooms are remodeled, lighting is improved, flooring is new, columns are stainless steel, concessions are looking more inviting. The bricks are almost gone, folks! I'd say another month or so, and they're history. The entire area in the Concourse D outbound Transportation Mall has been smoothed over, so the marble is on the way. The only area where bricks still remain is in the Transportation Mall @ A/B/C. The renovated T-Gates APM stop looks great with the marble tile design! And DL's new Check-In Area is about the most attractive, and efficient, I've seen of US airports. The 2nd Check-In island should be opening in about a week or so.

Also there is major progress being made on the supports and tracking for the APM that will service the Consolidated Rental Car Center and adjacent Convention Center (and new hotels / office buildings / retail to come late in the decade). 2009 is right around the corner, and this project is moving right along. This is the only US airport I'm aware of that will have a people mover going to its Consolidated Rental Car Center. Well, MSP has one, but it's such a short ride, as their center was simply an expansion of the existing parking garage in front of the terminal. But IAH, DFW, PHX, BWI & FLL all have shuttle buses. ATL's process is going to be much cleaner by removing large vehicles from the roadways and putting passengers on a people mover.

Finally, I got a copy of ATLs final numbers, and they were only off 1.23% year-over-year, which is remarkable considering the shifts in capacity with the DL bankruptcy. Total passengers were: 84,846,639. Of that, international traffic was up 20% to 8,073,855. Domestic traffic was down 3.2% to 76,264,446.

I think 2007 will see ATL surpass 1,000,000 aircraft operations, the first airport in the world to do so, and also set a new passenger traffic record.

My trip into the airport (arrived @ B34) was simple and easy. Everything seemed to be running smoothly (perhaps the stellar weather played a part). For as big as the airport is (and must be to serve such a high volume of passengers), I still believe it is incredibly efficient.

[Tombstoner]

Originally Posted by ATLonthebrain

For as big as the airport is (and must be to serve such a high volume of passengers), I still believe it is incredibly efficient.

I absolutely agree. ATL gets a bum rap among the flying public, but I think if you consider how much traffic moves through there and realize that the competition is ORD, LAX, FRA, CDG and not smaller airports, Hartsfield-Jackson is pretty amazing. It really is Atlanta's "world-class" feature.