New Atlanta airport master plan eyes new gates, sixth runway (Hapeville: moving, design)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Excuse me for laughing. Do you know how many cities much larger than Atlanta are trying to make do with tiny airports? LAX, San Diego, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Newark Airport, La Guardia, and Boston are just a few.

Basically virtually every major city in the US has at least a 2nd airport except for Philadelphia-and they are very close to NYC and Baltimore/DC.

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by magnetar

Though some of your costs are still being subsidized if you buy an economy ticket by the flyers in first class.

Regarding a second airport: it seems crazy. I don't know how you'd find land for one near MARTA, and building one that's not connected to our transit system would be literally ridiculous; as in worthy of ridicule.

Doraville Station is about it

[testa50]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Ugh, what a waste. Airlines are decentralizing with the more capable airlines like the 787 and A350 offering direct flights and not having to transfer as much. On top of that, for what this is going to cost the taxpayers (why aren't you arguing for a toolbooth on the runway, jsvh?) we could build regional rail out to all of the short-distance cities, virtually replacing all those flights. This would be to the airlines' benefits as well since instead of having to fly a lot of dinky little airplanes all over the place, they can now land large craft from across the country.

Not a waste at all. The hub-and-spoke model is more pronounced than ever before, with minor hubs shuttering (CLE, MEM) in favor of a smaller and smaller list of mega-hubs (ATL, DFW).

I'm sorry, but if you're flying from Savannah to Nashville or Knoxville to Tampa, there just will never be any viable nonstops on those sorts of flights. Given that all four of the cities above are growing quickly, it's safe to assume air travel to and from them will too, and a megahub stitching it all together in the middle will be vital. Regional rail won't cut it, ever.

Keep in mind these short hop flights to cities like Columbia, Augusta, Chattanooga, etc, are going to be 90% transfers on average (look at nonstop fares and you'll see why). Those people want to go to LA, London, Mexico, etc--they NEED a hub to do it, and wouldn't want to ride on rail for the Atlanta leg even if it went 200mph. So even if a train were built between these places in Atlanta, it would mainly just serve local traffic that would otherwise be driving; the flights will still be almost entirely necessary.

I do think a 6th runway won't be needed for a while. Delta is flying fewer, larger planes as a corporate strategy, which ought to reduce congestion in the short run. The terminals will continue to get more and more crowded, however!

[flyonpa]

Yes, that's where the 6th runway would be in the new plan.

The O/D terminal is gone,

and Concourse F (International Term) is extended off to the other side, and 3 Pier Concourse extend Down from current International Terminal along Maynard Jackson Blvd

[kayoticworld]

Originally Posted by flyonpa

Yes, that's where the 6th runway would be in the new plan.

The O/D terminal is gone,

and Concourse F (International Term) is extended off to the other side, and 3 Pier Concourse extend Down from current International Terminal along Maynard Jackson Blvd

So I assume that means they are going to demolish and relocate The cargo and Gate gourmet operations down there now? I knew it was only a matter of time when they built F concourse. Do they plan to continue the Pier Concources at the same level grade as the International Terminal? Seems like that would be quite expensive and a ton of dirt needed.

[jsvh]

The map shows it remaining, but wonder if there are plans to relocate the mid-field Delta maintenance hangers. That would free up a lot of room for more gates. They could relocated to the "potential development" site on the north side next to the existing Delta HQ.

[kayoticworld]

Originally Posted by jsvh

The map shows it remaining, but wonder if there are plans to relocate the mid-field Delta maintenance hangers. That would free up a lot of room for more gates. They could relocated to the "potential development" site on the north side next to the existing Delta HQ.

Excuse me if im off on my assessment....but isn't the yellow part where the plane are on the eastside of concourse F and extend all the way to loop road where the cargo and Gate Gourmet at now? Seems to be parallel to concourse F now and run all the way down M H Jackson Blvd. That looks to be the Toc on the other side, still standing.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by kayoticworld

Excuse me if im off on my assessment....but isn't the yellow part where the plane are on the eastside of concourse F and extend all the way to loop road where the cargo and Gate Gourmet at now? Seems to be parallel to concourse F now and run all the way down M H Jackson Blvd. That looks to be the Toc on the other side, still standing.

Yep, the map shows the TOC area remaining. I was just speculating on potential future plans beyond this.

[netdragon]

This is a shame. We passed up an opportunity to get high speed rail / maglev to Chattanooga and put overflow there. Building part of the high speed rail cooridor would have been great for Atlanta, and becoming a hub for it is ultimately a necessity for our regional survival. Eventually, high speed rail will replace short flights.

Hopefully, this extra capacity will be eaten up so quickly that the high speed rail will still be needed.

Edit:
Btw, I agree with MattCW. I just noticed he said we should have built high-speed rail as well.

[cqholt]

HJIA is continually ranked as one of the easiest navigable airports by business travelers.