Atlanta weather | Airlines, passengers recovering from storm

What gives?

Ice-covered ramps and burdensome de-icing operations are two of the main culprits.

Some of the planes have been at the airport since the weekend storm hit so they’re caked in snow and ice. A normal de-icing procedure takes 20 to 30 minutes. These planes need an hour to 90 minutes to be air worthy.

“They’re like Popsicles,” AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said. “It’s really hard to get that ice off. So it takes a long time to get de-iced. Once we can get the planes de-iced, then we’ll be able to ramp up the system.”

All of this led to more than 1,000 travelers spending Monday night at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, based on the number of blankets and amenity kits the airport handed out. The airlines’ recovery from the storm could last into early next week, exacerbated by the shift of the snowstorm to the Northeast.

Hartsfield-Jackson has had four of its five runways open since Monday morning, along with taxiways and emergency routes, roadways and sidewalks, airport spokesman John Kennedy said. The airport brought in 200 additional workers on 12-hour shifts to keep the airport operational, he said. The airport has more than two-dozen pieces of equipment available to clear snow.

Taxis, hotel shuttle buses, off-site parking buses, regional transportation buses, MARTA and the SkyTrain to the airport rental car center were all running. Most but not all airport parking lots were open. Concessions were open throughout the airport and restaurants had no shortage of supplies, Kennedy added.

Some restaurants have been open 24 hours per day since Sunday, Kennedy said. The airport has requirements, coordinated well before the storm hit, that each concourse have restaurants open all night during bad weather events like this week, he said.

“I’d hate to have their job today,” said Jerry Godwin of Kansas City, referring to Delta’s check-in staff.

Godwin and his family landed at Hartsfield-Jackson on Monday night after a mission trip to Nicaragua, followed by five days in Costa Rica. Their Monday night flight was cancelled, and they had to rent a car and drive into the city to find a hotel. Late Tuesday afternoon, they were still unsure when they would be able to get home.

While the runways had little activity, airport hotels were filled up and terminals were overcrowded. The airport offered blankets and amenity kits to passengers who needed them. AirTran served water and soft drinks up and down the concourses, Hutcheson said.

The Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway, which is a stop for the SkyTrain from the airport and easier to access than other hotels, doesn’t have much availability for new guests, general manager Robert Woolridge said on Tuesday.

Of the seven Marriott hotels in the airport area, including Renaissance Concourse, SpringHill Suites and Courtyard hotels, two were sold out Tuesday and the rest were close to sold out. Woolridge said this was the worst storm he’s seen at the airport in the nine years he has worked in the area.

Recovery from the storm will be a long one for Hartsfield-Jackson. AirTran on Tuesday extended its period for passengers to rebook flights without change fees to cover flights scheduled through Thursday, which is an indication more flight cancellations are coming. Passengers can change their reservations through next Tuesday, an ominous sign for how long it will take the airlines to deal with all of the passengers with canceled flights.

Delta also extended its change fee waiver to cover flights scheduled through Thursday, requiring travelers to reschedule new flights by Saturday.