When travelers get stuck on the tarmac, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has a plan to respond, but it also has a limited amount of equipment and personnel to help, according to a document filed with the federal government.
Hartsfield-Jackson in May filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation a contingency plan it has been using to handle coordination with airlines for tarmac delays.
The plan says the airport has seven "hardstands" to get passengers off planes stuck on the tarmac amid delays or when gates are not available. Two of the hardstands can be used for airliners as large as the Boeing 747-400, while the others are for regional jets and smaller planes. Of the more than 200 gates at Hartsfield-Jackson, 43 are "common-use" gates controlled by the airport, while the others give preferential use to particular airlines and are not fully-controlled by the airport, according to the document.
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