After spending $1.4 billion to build an international terminal, one of the biggest concerns Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport officials have is whether international travelers will be able to find such a large building.
That's what has Balram Bheodari nervous. After two years heading up the international terminal activation team to prepare for the facility's opening Wednesday, Bheodari is worried about the shrouded highway signs across metro Atlanta, waiting for their overnight unveiling to direct travelers.
That's because the 1.2-million-square-foot Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal is on the east side of the airport, which means its entrance for all passengers boarding international flights in Atlanta is off I-75 instead of I-85, which domestic travelers will continue to use to get to the main terminal. That could affect roughly 5,000 people who daily begin their trips to foreign lands in Atlanta and would depart from the international terminal.
The risk is that rushed travelers head the wrong way and end up at a terminal where they can't check in for their flights. That could sully what airport officials hope will be a triumphant opening of the shiny new building that was still undergoing its finishing touches Monday.
So the highly orchestrated big unveiling of the highway signs is key. The plan, in cooperation with the Georgia Department of Transportation, is for as many as 40 workers to toil from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. to uncover the signs in 100 locations. They will work in "rolling roadblocks," closing lanes to allow trucks and booms to change the signs, Bheodari said.
He has been closely monitoring weather forecasts for storms that could slow the work, and he has enlisted airport workers who volunteered to drive the highways before daybreak Wednesday morning to make sure all the signs are pointing in the right direction. If not, there's a plan to fix them quickly before many people are misled.
The new signs in some cases use an airplane icon instead of the word airport -- a shift to an international symbol that airport officials say they've been trying to get Atlantans accustomed to for several months by using it on some existing signs.
Tuesday morning, Bheodari is starting up 24-hour operations of a coordination center to be on the lookout for problems and respond to them, with plans to keep going through Saturday morning.
On Wednesday, the international terminal will open first thing in the morning for passengers checking in for all international flights that day, beginning with the first departure early in the morning. Passengers destined for Atlanta and arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson from international flights will also claim bags at the international terminal starting Wednesday.
The airport will then launch its first flight from a gate on the new Concourse F at 1:25 p.m., on Delta Air Lines to Tokyo's Narita Airport. That midday start of flights from the new concourse will ensure the airport and its leadership is at full staffing if things go wrong, Bheodari said.
Meanwhile, the preparations continue. Work was ongoing Monday on concessions that are expected to be open for the launch, and the airport is monitoring their progress. The airport, in cooperation with federal agencies, has already completed a security sweep of the new facility.
Bheodari's team is also working on adding signs inside the terminal to assist the more than 10,000 passengers who would pass through it daily, and it is drilling a range of people who work at the airport on how to operate at the new terminal.
"In this environment, you never stop training," he said. "It's a continuous process."
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