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back in the early 1990s, a study was commissioned to pick a site for a second airport. The committee proposed Gwinnett. Gwinnett said no thanks. If it could get done then when Gwinnett had half the population it has now, I fear there is no option other than Dobbins as its already of decent size and decent proximity.
Well, I will say that the planes are much quieter nowadays. It certainly is a different scenario now.
Does anybody else think this would be a good idea? The main Atlanta airport is pretty far for most people living north of the city. Plenty of major metros like D.C, Chicago, NYC, L.A, Miami have more than one airport. I'm wondering if a smaller airport north of Alpharetta would be a good idea.
There are airports all over the Metro area....you just have to either charter your own flight or learn how to fly and it yourself.
Do people really think there is ONE airport in the Atlanta area?
back in the early 1990s, a study was commissioned to pick a site for a second airport. The committee proposed Gwinnett. Gwinnett said no thanks. If it could get done then when Gwinnett had half the population it has now, I fear there is no option other than Dobbins as its already of decent size and decent proximity.
Does the Atlanta area really *need* a second airport. ATL has solid plans to grow with traffic and isn't in danger of becoming overcrowded any time soon. It's close to the city and well connected to highways and transit. The only benefit I see out of a second airport is more convenient to people living in the north suburbs, and perhaps getting out of Delta's iron grip.
The reason cities like Chicago, Dallas, DC, and Houston have multiple airports is because their original pre-jet age airports couldn't expand. ATL lucked out in that it never had those problems.
I feel like we would be better served by improving access to the existing airport.
If they upgraded Athens-Ben Epps Airport to a small commercial/domestic airport, people on the east side of the metro could make use of that as an alternative, including eastern Gwinnett, and of course the metro Athens area.
Does the Atlanta area really *need* a second airport. ATL has solid plans to grow with traffic and isn't in danger of becoming overcrowded any time soon. It's close to the city and well connected to highways and transit. The only benefit I see out of a second airport is more convenient to people living in the north suburbs, and perhaps getting out of Delta's iron grip.
The reason cities like Chicago, Dallas, DC, and Houston have multiple airports is because their original pre-jet age airports couldn't expand. ATL lucked out in that it never had those problems.
I feel like we would be better served by improving access to the existing airport.
I think it's just good to have options especially when you're dealing with a spread out major metro area. An airport in say Barrow County would be a lifesaver for many people on the eastern side who have to travel 1+ hour in no traffic to Hartsfield. Now granted some of these other cities have travel times that long to either of their airports for many residents but at least they have options.
RE: Columbus, Chattanooga, Athens, Macon, Augusta, whatever random out of MSA city you want to include being brought up in 2 or 3 different threads the last couple weeks, including our air routes/service thread.
Not going to happen.
First is being missed in all these threads about a 2nd airport that could service any part of the Atlanta region is the discussion is about starting up a new commercial airport that does not exist in terms of commercial air service.
A commercial airport terminal already exists in all of these places. They have all had various levels of success and/or struggles attracting customers and almost none of them are from the Atlanta area. But they are functioning airports, most of which are ready for growth is demand allows for it. All we need to do is support Columbus, Macon, Chattanooga (or complain at TN to support their airports), etc... as they naturally grow on their own. There is no magic wand at this point to give them demand and it is clear that Atlantans are not using these airports in any significant numbers. At this stage it is consumer demand that has to attract air service operations and they need to work on their own growth.
We discuss planning and what would be good, but that is about starting up a new airport that doesn't exist. The other side to the equation is market demand. Once we start up a new commercial service airport, it has to attract customers. We can't make customers use it. The market demand doesn't exist for any of these cities to be another airport for the Atlanta region.
They are already operating airports that can grow with time. The one exception is Athens has had more struggles than most. I use to live in the flight path of planes landing at Ben-Epps and would hear the jets on a embraer land daily of a US Air flight. The problem is demand was too low and they lost their commercial service, but they have built a commercial airport. The air service ended up being no name airline without a hub network providing service to one city with no good form of connection opportunities, but they operated cheaply and took the EAS subsidy. However, when they had a real airline, demand was low. People from Eastern Gwinnett do not want to go out that way. There is a ton of traffic on 316 and that is a really long haul to go somewhere that will never be able to operate many flight options.
A Winder-Barrow Airport is an option, but to be realistic I live in Gwinnett and can get the Hartsfield easier where I am and I will be further biased towards that airport due to the large amount of flight options a smaller airport will not have. I think, in terms of the Atlanta area, it would only attract customers from about 1/2 of Gwinnett and would be harder for people from Dekalb and North Fulton to get to. I think what would really need to happen there is a desire and agreement from Athens, Gainesville, and Winder to choose to go that route. Athens could lose their ability to compete for EAS funds in the future and they might want something where people can fly in with a 5 minute drive, but it's a legitimate strategy they could use to create demand for more flights when they have very little. It isn't a bad idea, but Athens and Gainesville need to be brought to the table.
Atlanta's suburban airports, like Gwinnett's Briscoe and Cobb's McCollum aren't going to become major airports. They can only get a slice of the region's customer base where they are located, but they are large slices. What it could be is a 5-15 gate O&D only style airport with one runway commuter style airport that allows airlines to deliver customers to their hubs. This could be good for American, United, and Southwest. Delta will be against it, as it can only increase their competition in the Atlanta market. However, these airports would never have the critical mass to offer flights to everywhere, like ATL does.
Better examples of an airport they could become would be airports in the LA area that aren't LAX, like Orange County's John Wayne Airport, Long Beach, or the commercial side of Hollywood-Burbank.
Dobbins and PDK are better positioned, but PDK is extremely unlikely due to really poor zoning choices made in Dekalb many decades ago.
Dobbins could be bigger than what McCollum or Briscoe could be.
I always thought small commuter style terminals of 5-15 gates at McCollum and Briscoe (and/or Dobbins) would be a good way to go. The big problem I have noticed in this region is an issue of public perception. We are all use to only living next to a really, really big major airport and most do not seem to envision things that are small and relatively sleepy... yet can collectively serve 5 to to 15 million air passengers year that are all O&D within our region.
A commercial airport terminal already exists in all of these places. They have all had various levels of success and/or struggles attracting customers and almost none of them are from the Atlanta area. But they are functioning airports, most of which are ready for growth is demand allows for it. All we need to do is support Columbus, Macon, Chattanooga (or complain at TN to support their airports), etc... as they naturally grow on their own. There is no magic wand at this point to give them demand and it is clear that Atlantans are not using these airports in any significant numbers. At this stage it is consumer demand that has to attract air service operations and they need to work on their own growth.
Those airports are simply too far for the vast majority of the metro area, even those living on the fringes. Growth from those airports would only happen from within their respective cities.
Quote:
They are already operating airports that can grow with time. The one exception is Athens has had more struggles than most. I use to live in the flight path of planes landing at Ben-Epps and would hear the jets on a embraer land daily of a US Air flight. The problem is demand was too low and they lost their commercial service, but they have built a commercial airport. The air service ended up being no name airline without a hub network providing service to one city with no good form of connection opportunities, but they operated cheaply and took the EAS subsidy. However, when they had a real airline, demand was low. People from Eastern Gwinnett do not want to go out that way. There is a ton of traffic on 316 and that is a really long haul to go somewhere that will never be able to operate many flight options.
A Winder-Barrow Airport is an option, but to be realistic I live in Gwinnett and can get the Hartsfield easier where I am and I will be further biased towards that airport due to the large amount of flight options a smaller airport will not have. I think, in terms of the Atlanta area, it would only attract customers from about 1/2 of Gwinnett and would be harder for people from Dekalb and North Fulton to get to. I think what would really need to happen there is a desire and agreement from Athens, Gainesville, and Winder to choose to go that route. Athens could lose their ability to compete for EAS funds in the future and they might want something where people can fly in with a 5 minute drive, but it's a legitimate strategy they could use to create demand for more flights when they have very little. It isn't a bad idea, but Athens and Gainesville need to be brought to the table.
Atlanta's suburban airports, like Gwinnett's Briscoe and Cobb's McCollum aren't going to become major airports. They can only get a slice of the region's customer base where they are located, but they are large slices. What it could be is a 5-15 gate O&D only style airport with one runway commuter style airport that allows airlines to deliver customers to their hubs. This could be good for American, United, and Southwest. Delta will be against it, as it can only increase their competition in the Atlanta market. However, these airports would never have the critical mass to offer flights to everywhere, like ATL does.
Better examples of an airport they could become would be airports in the LA area that aren't LAX, like Orange County's John Wayne Airport, Long Beach, or the commercial side of Hollywood-Burbank.
Dobbins and PDK are better positioned, but PDK is extremely unlikely due to really poor zoning choices made in Dekalb many decades ago.
Dobbins could be bigger than what McCollum or Briscoe could be.
I mean there's a ton of traffic headed towards ATL too, and not everyone in eastern Gwinnett lives along 316. Many could just as easily take 78 to Athens which has much less traffic and more predictable. But I agree that Athens is probably too far away to really pull from the ATL metro, which is why Winder/Barrow would be a good choice. That area is already growing with a lot of residential development, so you add that to what it could pull from and it could definitely be successful.
You mentioned the secondary SoCal airports like Orange County, but the airport a Winder/Barrow would most be like is an Ontario in both size and number of destinations. Delta might not like it but what are they going to do about it? Pull out of ATL? Move to Birmingham? Cut flights so that other airlines can come in to fill those gates? I know Delta has a lot of sway in North Georgia but no company should have pull like that.
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