Hartsfield-Jackson still plans for growth despite slowdown

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By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Though passenger volume fell in 2009 and is forecast to fall again this year, Atlanta airport officials are taking a new look at some old ideas for improvements to handle future growth. Among them: A sixth runway at Hartsfield-Jackson International or a second airport in the metro area.

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Atlanta airport officials are taking a new look at some old ideas for improvements to handle future growth.

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But the main emphasis of a $1 million federally funded airport capacity study is likely to be on less dramatic ideas, such as taxiway additions and improvements to ease jets' ground movements, along with possible new gate space.

Consulting firm HNTB Corp. is conducting the second phase of the study for Hartsfield-Jackson, after the airport completed the first phase on its own.

Despite the recent traffic slowdown as consumers cut travel spending and airlines cut flights, schedules at peak times already exceed Hartsfield-Jackson's operating capacity. That increases the chance of delays in bad weather or when other problems occur.

Even if daily capacity is above demand, "to provide a reasonable level of delay, the ratio should be lower," the first phase study concluded.

The Federal Aviation Administration recommends planning for improvements when traffic gets to 60 to 75 percent of airfield capacity. Ideally, an airport would keep its demand-to-capacity ratio in the 70 percent to 80 percent range, said Tom Nissalke, director of environmental and technical services at Hartsfield-Jackson.

That's a luxury at a time when governments can't afford new infrastructure for future demand that hasn't materialized, and even in good times the biggest airports often develop capacity issues before improvements come on line.

Hartsfield-Jackson, which opened its fifth runway in 2006, has already made some improvements since then including new traffic control lights and new methods for certain departures.

"You certainly don't want to see the delays increase," Nissalke said. Last year, the Atlanta airport had a 72.6 percent on-time rate, down from 75.5 percent in the 2008.

In the near term, the largest construction project Hartsfield-Jackson is considering for the 2011-2015 time frame is "Taxiway Whiskey," also known as a "super end-around." It would create a more efficient connection to the fifth runway on the south side of the airport, something Delta Air Lines' chief executive, Richard Anderson, has expressed interest in.

The airport already built an end-around called Taxiway Victor on the north side of the airport. It reduces the times that jets have to cross active runways, which slows their progress to or from the terminal.

The new end-around has "got big benefits, but the costs are quite high," Nissalke said. It's unclear how much it might cost.

Hartsfield-Jackson is also preparing for a major, long-awaited shift to a GPS-based air traffic control system for the nation, to be rolled out over the next couple of decades.

"It's so revolutionary and so different," Nissalke said, noting that it will require some upgrades at the airport to take advantage of the benefits.

The first phase of the report said that while the emphasis of the study is to increase capacity, "it is also important to better maintain the current capacity that is available when possible." That includes small measures like runway and taxiway extensions, and more deicing pads and gates.

If more planes can take off and land per hour but there are not enough gates available, the bottleneck is just moved from one stage to another, Nissalke said.

The new international terminal under construction will add 12 gates when it opens in 2012. The airport's long-range plan also shows a new domestic terminal south of the current main terminal, though there are no firm plans for building it.

The airport has also considered the idea of a sixth runway, though it was shelved in the late 1990s in favor of getting the fifth runway done before trying to add another.

Nissalke said that in 2008 the airlines at Hartsfield-Jackson proposed a remote concourse along with a sixth runway just north of the fifth runway.

The idea of a second metro Atlanta airport also has percolated for decades, and HNTB will take a fresh look at the idea. A second airport could cost $250 million to $5 billion, depending on whether it's an upgrade of an existing airport or a new airport, according to the first phase of the study. Meanwhile, private developers hope to bring airline flights to Gwinnett County's Briscoe Field.

Delta has long opposed a second airport, and AirTran Airways, the No. 2 carrier at Hartsfield-Jackson, isn't encouraging the idea either. Chief Executive Bob Fornaro said Atlantans "would be better served with most of the effort being focused right where we are right now."

"Before we look at their alternative, I think we would exhaust all of our current alternatives at our current facility," Fornaro said. "That’s why you’ve got to have a vibrant planning process to put everything on the table."