Interim Hartsfield-Jackson head Balram Bheodari gets permanent position

Hartsfield-Jackson deputy general manager Balram Bheodari (right). HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

Hartsfield-Jackson deputy general manager Balram Bheodari (right). HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

Hartsfield-Jackson International’s interim general manager Balram Bheodari has been officially named the airport’s top executive.

Bheodari was just one of the appointments announced Tuesday by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has about seven months left in her term. Bottoms has said she does not plan to run for reelection.

Bheodari, known as “B,” had been interim manager of the Atlanta airport since April, when airport manager John Selden stepped down to take another job.

A retired Army pilot, Bheodari was previously deputy manager of operations at Hartsfield-Jackson and served a stint as interim airport manager in 2018 before Selden was brought in.

He first began working at Hartsfield-Jackson more than 20 years ago, left in 2015 to take a job as general manager of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, but returned to the Atlanta airport the following year.

Bheodari has expertise in operations. “Moving beyond this pandemic and maintaining ATL’s position as the premier airport in the nation is a challenge I embrace fully,” he said in a written statement.