Originally Posted by
Josher747
While I can't give a specific reason why the plane was "towed" to the gate late, towing planes from hangars or remote stands in Atlanta isn't easy.. The "tugs" are actually "super tugs" that have the ability to pull these aircraft across the airfield.. They must cross active runways, so coordination with ATC at all times is necessary, hence only certain people being certified for this job. If you've ever noticed, there are generally many aircraft sitting in a remote pad on the north side of the airfield, as well as the Delta hangars. This causes traffic jams with idle planes as well..
While there are quite a few more than "1" tug available, it's quite possible they were all being used on a Monday, when a full schedule is in effect after a reduced schedule Sunday where many planes were sitting idle.
If you look at an airport map of ATL,
http://155.178.201.160/d-tpp/1302/00026AD.PDF , it is pretty apparent that a tow from the North Ramp is going to involve crossing two active runways and several taxiways. It may just be that Atlanta Ground won't approve a tow until there's a lull in traffic as it would be too disruptive to departing and arriving traffic and would involve coordination between both ground control and the tower controller for each runway being crossed (each runway has its own tower frequency) as well as the controller for the ramp into which it's being towed.
In short, a tow at ATL isn't as simple as it sounds.