As members of a pilots union of 12,000, no one who flies for Delta Air Lines has any difficulty appreciating the value of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It isn’t just because our headquarters has been here since 1941, or because thousands of our pilots make their homes in Georgia. Our understanding comes from being part of the machinery that is driven by the mighty Hartsfield engine.
The view from the cockpit reveals an efficiency that is far beyond anything we experience flying into any other city. The arrival process for Hartsfield begins hundreds of miles out and more than four miles up, as traffic from every direction is sorted into routes built to maximize efficiency and reduce costs. Even our vertical paths are carefully designed, taking advantage of the latest technology to maximize safety and fuel economy. Our strict adherence to these procedures is essential to the operation’s safety and efficiency.
This efficiency is possible for two reasons. The city of Atlanta has always made Hartsfield a priority, expanding and improving our airport, rising to meet the opportunities offered by a global marketplace with a million places to go, but only a few places to land. The less obvious factor in our airport’s success is the absence of conflicting air space. Atlanta is the ninth-largest U.S. metropolitan area, but the only region among the top 10 with air space uncontested by a secondary commercial airport.
These advantages have added up. Last year, Hartsfield-Jackson retained its title of “World’s Busiest Airport,” serving more than 94 million passengers, despite a 1.1 percent reduction from 2012 levels. While that drop might serve worries about a flat market, international passenger traffic increased over 4 percent. The world is coming to Hartsfield-Jackson, the airport that delivered $32 billion to Atlanta and $60 billion to Georgia in 2013.
These achievements are not possible if we change the equation by expanding Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport to commercial service.
The proposed development would bring Atlanta in line with many other places we see from the cockpit: Kennedy, with the twists and turns to avoid LaGuardia and Newark; Chicago O’Hare, with Midway like a thorn in its side; and Los Angeles International, surrounded by four airports offering commercial service, and serving 27 million fewer passengers than Hartsfield.
Paulding’s close proximity and runway alignment would require significant alteration of arrival and departure routes. To maintain the safe separation of aircraft, the number of flights serving Hartsfield would have to be reduced to accommodate those for any new airport.
We oppose the development of a secondary airport that would dilute and reduce the flow of passengers through Atlanta. Other cities have gone down this path, but none have been able to reverse the inevitable reduction in passenger traffic. This proposal is the result of backroom deals, misapplication of federal regulations in environmental assessment, and myopic predictions about the actual outcomes for all Georgians if this expansion proceeds.
We must instead retain every bit of the value we share in Hartsfield, lead the world by example, and bring ever more opportunities to Atlanta.
Capt. Mike Donatelli is a Detroit-based Boeing 777 pilot with Delta Air Lines, active in the Air Line Pilots Association.
