Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has started using its new ATL West parking deck for overflow parking as lots next to the terminal fill up.
The ATL West deck is connected to the domestic terminal via SkyTrain, and has not officially opened for full-time use by passengers. But the airport started using it as an overflow lot over Easter weekend, continuing the practice on busy days since then.
As more people get vaccinated for COVID-19 and domestic travel rebounds with more than 1.5 million people now passing through airport security checkpoints nationally on some days, the airport’s close-in lots have been reaching capacity during busy periods.
Hartsfield-Jackson spokesman Andrew Gobeil said when overflow parking is needed, motorists will be directed to the ATL West Deck. The airport’s park-ride shuttle lots are still temporarily closed due to the pandemic. The economy lots currently cost $10 a day, while the ATL West deck costs $14 a day, the same rate as daily parking in the terminal decks.
While travel is still below pre-pandemic levels, the parking squeeze is exacerbated by construction for airport projects that has resulted in the closure of some parking areas, and the temporary closure of airport-run shuttle parking lots amid the pandemic.
While the economy lots are within walking distance of the domestic terminal, passengers parking at the remote ATL West Deck take a free SkyTrain ride to the domestic terminal.
Credit: Bob Andres bandres@ajc.com
Credit: Bob Andres bandres@ajc.com
The SkyTrain for years has mainly been used by visitors to Atlanta, transporting them between the domestic terminal and the airport’s rental car center, the Georgia International Convention Center and nearby hotels at the Gateway Center.
But the new ATL West deck is next to the Georgia International Convention Center, putting it on a stop along the SkyTrain line. Eventually, the new deck will allow touchless payment using a Peach Pass.
The Atlanta airport has spent years constructing the new parking deck, and delayed its opening last year amid decreased travel demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been using the deck for employee parking.
The ATL West deck was originally intended to replace parking displaced by construction projects including an expansion of Concourse T and a potential hotel project, and then the deck was to serve as additional parking when the domestic terminal parking decks were to be demolished and rebuilt.
But the pandemic drove traffic down by more than 60% last year and the airport scrapped plans to expand the domestic terminal parking decks amid changing driving dynamics.
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