Still Soaring: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

The airport stays humming from morning to late at night, with some 2,100 flights arriving and departing daily. So it’s no surprise that with nearly 105 million passengers in 2023, it once again topped the list for busiest airport in the world – a spot it’s held for 24 of the past 25 years.

Atlanta leaders started working on achieving that accomplishment more than a century ago. And city leaders are working hard to keep the airport at that global height well into the future, with $11.6 billion in projects underway or planned for infrastructure improvements to accommodate more passengers and handle bigger jets. Plans to improve ground transportation around the airport also are starting to take shape.

Discussion is also underway regarding the next generation of airliners with alternative, zero-emission fuel sources, particularly hydrogen. Officials are looking at major projects in this area that would take Hartsfield-Jackson to the year 2050 and beyond.

“You invest and keep up or you fall behind,” says Zack Deming, managing director for the Diversified Search Group, an executive search firm. Deming, based in Atlanta, specializes in executive searches for aviation, transportation and logistics clients and knows airport leaders throughout the nation.

“One of the reasons why Atlanta holds the No. 1 spot is due to the commitment of government officials in attracting aviation to the state.” Laurie Garrow, professor, Georgia Tech

Those investments have resulted in Hartsfield-Jackson serving more than 150 U.S. destinations and more than 70 international destinations in 43 countries. The latest figures, released by Airports Council International World in mid-April, show about 2,100 arrivals and departures daily at Atlanta airport, with nearly 12,000 passengers taking off or landing every hour. That amounts to about 200 people every minute. Airport Interim General Manager Jan Lennon says she doesn’t see this trend changing any time soon. “As we look to the future, ATL stands poised to continue shaping a global hub that links travelers to destinations while fostering a world-class travel experience. We are committed to ensuring that this airport remains at the forefront of operational excellence, serving as a dynamic force for generations to come,” she said in an email.

Great Partner: Delta Air Lines has been flying out of Atlanta’s airport since 1930. Photo credit: Hartsfield-Jackson

Aviation Hub

There are several factors that have placed Hartsfield-Jackson at the top. A prime one was foresight by city leaders in the early 20th century and the political will to follow through.

The city of Atlanta, which owns and operates the airport, was “very intentional about having Atlanta be an aviation hub,” Deming says.

Laurie Garrow, a professor and aviation expert at Georgia Tech, agrees that the blueprint for success was drawn early – and it’s kept pace in all the years since.

World’s Busiest: About 286,000 passengers pass through the Atlanta airport each day. Photo credit: Hartsfield-Jackson

“One of the reasons why Atlanta holds the No. 1 spot is due to the commitment of government officials in attracting aviation to the state,” she says. “This commitment goes all the way back to 1919 when Asa Candler, founder of The Coca-Cola Company, donated a racetrack that would become the [airport] site – [and it’s] where the Atlanta airport is today.”

Much of the growth in the 1970s was due to efforts by Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson to enlarge and improve the airport.

Additional runways and extensions of the original three also became a necessity. A fourth runway opened to air traffic in December 1984, the same year an original runway was lengthened. A seventh concourse was completed in 1994 to prepare for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. A fifth runway was completed in 2006. The result has been two terminals, seven concourses, 195 gates and five runways.

John Grant, senior analyst at OAG Aviation, which provides flight data to Hartsfield-Jackson, points out the benefit of “available capacity at the airport, which has ensured that there is enough room for growth and always at just the right time.”

Location, Location, Location

Hartsfield-Jackson’s physical location 10 miles south of downtown Atlanta gives it space to grow because it has available land around it and is not constrained by adjacent bodies of water or densely populated commercial and residential development. But the airport’s success was not built solely on concrete and steel.

Improving Transportation: Gerald McDowell, executive director of the ATL Airport Community Improvement Districts. Photo credit: Brandon Clifton

Take, for example, the fact that many other major U.S. metro areas – New York, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Los Angeles – are served by two or more airports. That dilutes the total number of passengers at each airport.

“Certainly, the fact that it is a single airport in a metropolitan area is a factor that is pretty unique in the United States,” Grant says.

Atlanta’s location also has played a major role. Deming calls it “so wonderfully geographically located,” pointing out that Hartsfield-Jackson is a two-hour flight from 80% of the nation’s population. Hartsfield-Jackson’s location also has kept it from facing obstacles other large airports encounter. “We don’t have [flight] congestion, like in the Northeast,” Deming says.

Georgia Tech’s Garrow points out how significant that is. “Atlanta has fewer airspace constraints than other airports like JFK, LaGuardia and Newark in [the] New York [metropolitan region] because it doesn’t have to coordinate takeoffs and landings with nearby airports,” she says.

Hartsfield-Jackson also benefits from its five parallel runways, which are aligned east-west. Three are 9,000 feet long, one is almost 10,000 feet and the fifth is 12,390 feet in length.

“They are very well-optimized runways,” says John-Paul Clarke, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “You can run three landings simultaneously and independently. It’s like running three airports together.”

There’s another advantage. “Geography and a centralized position in the U.S. make it an ideal point for a hub airport that connects both domestic and international flights,” Grant says.

“Overlay that with ATL being the base for two major carriers in Delta Air Lines and Southwest, who are both market leaders in their respective market segments, and it really is a truly favorable set of circumstances that have been created by all concerned,” he says.

Economic Driver

There’s no underplaying the Delta effect. Delta Air Lines, which started flying into Atlanta in 1930, is Hartsfield-Jackson’s No. 1 domestic and international carrier. In April it reported more than 830 peak-day departures to more than 200 global destinations from Hartsfield-Jackson. “Delta is such a great partner,” Deming says.

There’s also no denying the economic role Hartsfield-Jackson plays in Atlanta and Georgia.

“It is a tremendous economic driver,” Garrow says. “Not only with employees, but also aerospace industries located in the state, providing parts for airplanes. It’s an economic driver in more ways than you might expect.”

According to the city:

• Hartsfield-Jackson is the state’s largest employer, with more than 63,000 airline, ground transportation, concession, security and municipal workers.
• The airport generates a $34.8 billion economic impact for Metro Atlanta and $66 billion for the state annually.
• There are 263 concession outlets: 114 food and beverage, 90 retail, three duty-free stores and 56 service outlets, including a banking center, Georgia Lottery, ATMs, vending machines and spas.
• There are three main air cargo complexes – North, Midfield and South – with total warehouse space of 1.8 million square feet.

“Hartsfield-Jackson is more than a travel hub – it’s a cornerstone for Metro Atlanta’s economic prowess and global influence,” says Katie Kirkpatrick, president & CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “Businesses want to be positioned where they can easily travel to and from other markets, and Hartsfield-Jackson facilitates that connectivity.”

Local transportation also is important. MARTA rail serves an average 11,000 customers daily to and from its airport station. That’s more than 4 million travelers a year. About $55 million in renovation work was recently completed at the airport station.

“Airports that have public transit connections that provide seamless connections to major attractions like convention centers, business centers and tourist attractions also tend to attract more visitors for the local economy, which also plays a role in the airport’s success,” Garrow says.

The ATL Airport Community Improvement Districts (AACIDs), which include members from Fulton and Clayton counties as well as Atlanta and six other municipalities, work on improving ground transportation and mobility.

“It is a 21st century infrastructure plan,” says Executive Director Gerald McDowell. With a budget of $3.8 million in 2024, the AACIDs are funded by taxation levied on about 350 property owners in its district, including Delta. Three major people-moving projects are on the agenda. The most significant is a Personal Rapid Transit system that would have on-demand elevated rail cars that would accommodate four to six occupants, McDowell says. The system would offer a 20-mile circular route around the airport as an extension of present-day MARTA.

McDowell says the AACIDs plan to open a 1-mile demonstration in College Park in late 2025 at a cost of $18 million. Two other proposed future services are a microtransit system with minibuses and vans operating from one or more centralized parking areas and autonomous shuttles. The CIDs will focus on those in the next decade, he says. “One of the challenges of the airport area is the lack of connection to the region,” McDowell says. He says the CIDs want to provide that connection.

Making Improvements

Hartsfield and Atlanta leaders know they can’t become complacent, especially as airports in the Middle East and Asia expand their operations. The latest ACI World data, for example, shows that the airport in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates ranks No. 2, nearly 18 million passengers behind Hartsfield-Jackson, but it grew 31.7% in 2023 over its 2022 level. Hartsfield-Jackson grew 11.7%.

Reducing Carbon Emissions: Hartsfield-Jackson Senior Deputy General Manager Michael Smith. Photo credit: Daemon Baizan

Atlanta leaders are ready to spend billions to keep the airport’s top ranking.

For passenger comfort, Hartsfield will add more than 300,000 square feet of food, beverage, retail and service facilities. That will include a 3,000-square-foot food hall to be opened in early 2025 on Concourse F.

Perhaps more significantly, though, joint venture partners WSP Global, Turner & Townsend Heery and the Atlanta-based H. J. Russell & Company are working on a $1.4 billion expansion of Concourse D, the narrowest at Hartsfield-Jackson. Crews have begun the process of attaching 19 prefabricated modules to the existing structure while keeping the concourse open.

The project will increase seating at Concourse D gates by 1,000, bringing the total to 6,400, and it also will double the restroom capacity. The expansion will allow larger-capacity jets to pull up to the gates. Construction is expected to be completed by 2029. Other planned Hartsfield-Jackson improvements include a five-gate addition to Terminal T and construction of a sixth runway.

Funding will come in part from more than $88.8 million allocated by Congress in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The money must be spent to upgrade runways, taxiways, airport safety, airport-transit connections and roadways, Georgia’s U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff announced in May. The expansions and improvements are not only targeting short-term relief, but they also reflect a view toward the horizon. “A lot of that expansion is looking to support new aircraft,” Garrow says. UT’s Clarke says airline fleets turn over every 25 to 30 years.

Paradigm Shift

Airlines don’t just want new airplanes; they’re eyeing aircraft with engines that run on a different type of fuel. Hydrogen is a zero-emission fuel many analysts expect might offer a paradigm shift for the industry.

The World Economic Forum’s Target True Zero released a report in 2022 titled Unlocking Sustainable Battery and Hydrogen-Powered Flight. It’s a concept receiving serious consideration in Atlanta.

Hartsfield-Jackson, aircraft manufacturer Airbus, Delta Air Lines and hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer Plug Power are examining whether hydrogen fuel can be provided at the airport.

The study will look at airport infrastructure, operational viability and safety and security requirements, Airport Industry-News reported on its website.

“We are committed to reducing carbon emissions and supporting sustainable aviation fuels use,” says Hartsfield-Jackson Senior Deputy General Manager Michael Smith. “If hydrogen proves a viable alternative, ATL will assess our options to update infrastructure to accommodate this new technology.”

The study is scheduled for completion at the end of 2026.

Clarke says hydrogen combustion is a better long-distance alternative than electric batteries because aircraft become lighter as hydrogen fuel is consumed, while batteries are heavy. “Batteries don’t make any sense. They are dead weight,” he says. “We’ve been flying airplanes with hydrogen since the 1950s. We know how to build a hydrogen-based jet engine.”

Hydrogen fuel faces a different challenge, though. “The big issue with hydrogen is the supply chain,” Clarke says. “It does not exist to the kind of scale you need.”

Under New Management

While Hartsfield-Jackson and city officials look to the future, they have had to face some recent turbulence with the resignation of two senior officials.

Jai Ferrell, the airport’s chief commercial officer and deputy general manager since 2022, resigned this spring. She had been under scrutiny in 2023 during an audit but was absolved of wrongdoing.
A few weeks after Ferrell’s resignation, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced that Bheodari would be leaving his job on July 1. He had been general manager since 2021. The circumstances of his departure are not clear.

Bheodari said in news reports that he had told Dickens last fall that he would resign when his contract expired June 30. Neither Bheodari nor Dickens could be reached for comment.

On July 1, Lennon, who was the airport’s deputy general manager of operations, took over as interim general manager. The city of Atlanta has hired recruitment firm Korn Ferry to conduct a global search for a permanent replacement.

Since Ben DeCosta resigned as general manager in 2010 after a 12-year stint, Hartsfield-Jackson has had five top leaders. DeCosta and Bheodari have separately referred to it as a revolving door.

“There are two ways to look at it,” Garrow says. “You want stability in leadership, but then on the other hand, given that the aviation industry is so dynamic, it’s nice to have fresh blood and different leadership.”

Some industry observers point out that Atlanta’s pay has not remained competitive with other airports. Bheodari’s salary was $310,000 a year. But that shouldn’t prevent Atlanta from attracting qualified candidates, analysts say.

“My personal view is that Hartsfield-Jackson is the world’s No. 1, and it would be a fun place to run. It’s a cool job to have, such a rewarding job,” Garrow says. “I would love to have that salary pushed up. But even with a less competitive salary, there are still candidates who are still excited about running the world’s No. 1 airport.

“It bodes well for the future of Atlanta.”

OAG’s Grant sees continued blue skies for Hartsfield-Jackson. “Despite any leadership changes,” he says, “the airport is in such a strong position that they are unlikely to see that [advantage] change, especially with the investment program that will enhance services for both airlines and their customers.”