The airport owns two forests

It’s February and “fake spring” in Atlanta. No better time to head into The Concourse, a monthly insider’s look at what’s happening at the world’s busiest airport from Emma Hurt , the AJC’s travel and logistics reporter.?

This month, we check in with the construction zone of Concourse D.?

But first, a blast from the past.

The question of a second Atlanta airport

It’s something city leaders began asking back in the 1960s, AJC archives show.?

Big fact: Atlanta is the largest metro in the country to not have multiple commercial airports.?

However, that’s not because nobody has considered it.?

Atlanta actually already owns parcels of second airport land.?

• In the 1970s, the city snapped up a pair of 10,000-acre tracts of forest in Dawson and Paulding County as possible second airport sites.?
• (“Buy early!” the director of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport urged his Atlanta counterparts in 1974.)?

The forests have been managed by the state as public recreation land ever since, while the city’s interest in a second airport has disappeared.?

As I reported last week, DNR and a conservation nonprofit have been quietly lobbying Mayor Andre Dickens to sell the land for permanent conservation.?

• He said he’s still “analyzing” the decision, though he’s likely missed the deadline for a federal grant that could fund the deal.?

What Atlanta does with the land could have huge ramifications for the region’s green space and the city’s landholdings.

But it also dredges up the question of why Atlanta has just one airport.?

• Hartsfield-Jackson saw 105 million passengers in 2023. The airport’s master plan projects 121 million by 2031.?

For many today, the question remains relevant — especially those commuting to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport from the northern arc of the metro.?

Why it is this way?

Delta Air Lines : Atlanta has only ever had one airport in part because the airline industry has consolidated and the city has one airline hub: Delta’s, with 80% of the market share. That’s very different from other cities with multiple airline hubs and airports to house them.?

• In its headquarters lease agreement, Atlanta actually promises Delta it will not operate a second commercial airport.?

Money: Building a new airport is expensive. Other cities with new airports have gotten construction support from airlines. (Denver built?a new airport in 1995 with United’s support for nearly $5 billion. That’s $10 billion today.)

• A city study of possible second airports in 2011 found no financially feasible sites, including the two forests.?

Oh, and then there’s the title: A second commercial airport would mean kissing that “world’s busiest” crown goodbye.?

Who wants one? The most recent second airport plan came from Paulding County’s own government.The city protested; Delta quietly funded a campaign against it.?

What to watch from here: The state. When some state lawmakers, led by now- Lt. Governor Burt Jones , threatened to pass legislation to take over governance of Hartsfield-Jackson in 2018, Delta and the city mobilized again to stop it.

• But those lawmakers also studied the feasibility of a second airport, run by the state.?
• Notable: Jones is widely expected to run for governor next year.

?? Do you think Atlanta needs a second airport????

• Reply in the comments or email me: [email protected]

Before you take off: Concourse D’s got the action

Concourse D —?long the narrowest concourse — is still plugging along on its modular expansion. Which means yes, parts of it will continue to be a construction zone until 2029.?

The last modular move for the north side happened overnight last week.

• It’s a milestone in the $1.4 billion, seven-year project designed to keep most gates operational throughout (hence the construction zone).
• Delta “couldn’t afford” to close all the gates, Frank Rucker, the airport’s senior deputy general manager for infrastructure told me. So they came up with the modular strategy.

Also happening in D? What will become the second-biggest Delta Sky Club at ATL, opening this spring.

Plus, D is home to the airport’s newest concessions: Freshens and California chain Lemonade, plus two new brands the concessionaire hopes to expand nationally: Bang House Pizza and KoHo Kolache House.

At the grand opening, Randy Hazelton of H&H Hospitality told me it’s been a long time coming: since February 2020, to be exact. COVID threw a big wrench in the plans.?

But even without COVID, being an airport concessionaire is not easy, he said.?

• The red tape requires a lot of time. “And then it takes a lot of money, which most people don’t have access to. You don’t own this real estate…this is owned by the city. You have no collateral.”
• “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good environment, but it’s not easy.”?

That, by the way, is why the airport is launching a new two-pronged program to try to help small businesses break into the infamously difficult airport concessions game.

• Learn more here.

More to explore

Hartsfield-Jackson launches small-business concessionaire boot camp

Delta’s new Sky Club rules take effect Feb. 1: What you need to know

Delta will resume nonstop Tel Aviv flights April 1

Hartsfield-Jackson’s top job makes $306K. City officials say that’s not enough

‘Oops, I forgot’ won’t fly. Examine bags for prohibited items, TSA says