Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport plans a record level of construction in 2017 — including new parking decks, new gates, terminal renovations and preparations for a new Concourse G.
The world’s busiest airport will spend about $779 million on construction in 2017, said Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Miguel Southwell. The expansions are planned as the airport expects to handle a record 100 million passengers this year.
An airport the size of Hartsfield-Jackson typically spends $75 million to $125 million on ongoing construction projects such as maintaining roads, and in the past the airport has spent as much as $450 million in a year, Southwell said. But this amount of construction spending is unprecedented as the airport embarks on a new $6 billion master plan with major capital improvements.
Some of the projects, such as the terminal modernization to renovate the existing domestic terminal and concourses at an airport open 24/7 with thousands of flights a day, are incredibly complex. "It's like taking a shower while you're re-tiling your shower walls," Southwell likes to say.
In addition to the new parking garages, additional gates on Concourse T and terminal modernization, the airport will also construct a new taxiway connector called an "end-around" to allow airplanes to move across the airfield more quickly and safely.
As the airport prepares to eventually build an eighth concourse, Concourse G, it will prepare the site for that new gate facility on the east side of the airport. While planners previously expected Delta would have to move its cargo operation to make way for that concourse, Southwell said the airport now plans to just reconfigure the cargo facility to clear space.
As Hartsfield-Jackson continues lease negotiations with Delta, it is yet to be determined when Concourse G will actually be built, but it will take eight years to construct, Southwell said.
When the time comes to build Concourse H, then the entire Delta operation cargo building would have to move, along with a catering facility and post office, he said, but Concourse H is not expected to be needed until 2030.
Meanwhile, the airport continues to look for more sources of revenue as it plans for the huge projects in its pipeline. Some of the airport’s biggest sources of revenue are airline lease payments and landing fees, parking fees and concessions. But the airport is looking to the private sector to invest in projects at the airport such as a planned on-site hotel as well as an envisioned recycling and composting facility. It is also looking to areas such as increased advertising and marketing to bring in more cash.
“As we do all this construction, we need all the money we can get,” Southwell said.
