Atlanta air traffic
Jun 4, 2019, 10:03 am
#16
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Jun 4, 2019, 11:39 am
#17
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The main portion of ATL was designed by an Atlanta architectural firm named Stephens & Wilkinson (now S&W Architects). Even 40 years on, it is a marvel of efficiency. The only (minor) change that would have made it better would have been wider concourses to accommodate moving walkways.
Look at all of the airport terminals around the world designed by big "name" architecture firms like Norman Foster & Associates or Richard Rogers Partnership/Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, etc (HKG, PEK, the never-built MEX, LHR T5). They are glamorous and glitzy, and they get a lot of press, especially in the design industry. But they don't work nearly as efficiently as ATL. Stephens & Wilkinson designed a giant factory for moving a LOT of people, and they totally succeeded.
Look at all of the airport terminals around the world designed by big "name" architecture firms like Norman Foster & Associates or Richard Rogers Partnership/Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, etc (HKG, PEK, the never-built MEX, LHR T5). They are glamorous and glitzy, and they get a lot of press, especially in the design industry. But they don't work nearly as efficiently as ATL. Stephens & Wilkinson designed a giant factory for moving a LOT of people, and they totally succeeded.
That said, wider concourses without moving sidewalks, to allow more walking space and/or bigger gate seating areas, might have been nice to have.
Jun 4, 2019, 11:50 am
#18
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And arguably maybe not even that ... ORD removed a bunch of moving sidewalks from the C concourse because they found that they clogged up traffic flow, particularly when there is a big crowd of people waiting to board on one side of the moving sidewalk and totally blocking through traffic on that side. And the flow of people along the concourses at ATL can often be so great that I could easily see moving sidewalks getting overwhelmed and creating congestion of people trying to flow onto them at the ends.
That said, wider concourses without moving sidewalks, to allow more walking space and/or bigger gate seating areas, might have been nice to have.
That said, wider concourses without moving sidewalks, to allow more walking space and/or bigger gate seating areas, might have been nice to have.
No connecting traffic flow in D?
Still, why not just build them all the same?
Jun 4, 2019, 12:40 pm
#19
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A good site to peruse for “then & now” photos is here:
https://www.sunshineskies.com/atl-history.html
The footprint of the old hub and spoke terminal design is visible is some satellite images today on the north side of the field, where the Renaissance Hotel and Delta HQ campus are currently.
The 5 parallel runways were designed for the jet age in the late 1970s and this has served ATL well with managing and recovering from major weather delays, etc.
https://www.sunshineskies.com/atl-history.html
The footprint of the old hub and spoke terminal design is visible is some satellite images today on the north side of the field, where the Renaissance Hotel and Delta HQ campus are currently.
The 5 parallel runways were designed for the jet age in the late 1970s and this has served ATL well with managing and recovering from major weather delays, etc.
Jun 4, 2019, 1:13 pm
#20
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A good site to peruse for “then & now” photos is here:
https://www.sunshineskies.com/atl-history.html
The footprint of the old hub and spoke terminal design is visible is some satellite images today on the north side of the field, where the Renaissance Hotel and Delta HQ campus are currently.
The 5 parallel runways were designed for the jet age in the late 1970s and this has served ATL well with managing and recovering from major weather delays, etc.
https://www.sunshineskies.com/atl-history.html
The footprint of the old hub and spoke terminal design is visible is some satellite images today on the north side of the field, where the Renaissance Hotel and Delta HQ campus are currently.
The 5 parallel runways were designed for the jet age in the late 1970s and this has served ATL well with managing and recovering from major weather delays, etc.
TL;DR: ATL is in rare company with it's RWY capacity.
Jun 4, 2019, 2:07 pm
#21
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D was built for O&D traffic for everybody else. With the exception of the brief period when TW had a mini-hub at ATL, D never really had connecting traffic until DL expanded into the north half.
If D concourse was 5ft wider and it is roughly 1/4 mile long and construction costs were $300/sf (these are all WAGS), then you've increased construction costs by nearly $2m. Whatever the actual figures were in the late 70s when it was built, it would still have been a substantial extra cost.
Jun 4, 2019, 3:04 pm
#22
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A and the south end of B were built to DL's specs, C and the north end of B were built to EA's specs (Have you ever notice the change in level in B just south of the centerpoint? Or the Eastern tunnel shortcut from B to C and midway up the north half of the concourses.)
D was built for O&D traffic for everybody else. With the exception of the brief period when TW had a mini-hub at ATL, D never really had connecting traffic until DL expanded into the north half.
If D concourse was 5ft wider and it is roughly 1/4 mile long and construction costs were $300/sf (these are all WAGS), then you've increased construction costs by nearly $2m. Whatever the actual figures were in the late 70s when it was built, it would still have been a substantial extra cost.
D was built for O&D traffic for everybody else. With the exception of the brief period when TW had a mini-hub at ATL, D never really had connecting traffic until DL expanded into the north half.
If D concourse was 5ft wider and it is roughly 1/4 mile long and construction costs were $300/sf (these are all WAGS), then you've increased construction costs by nearly $2m. Whatever the actual figures were in the late 70s when it was built, it would still have been a substantial extra cost.
Yeah, makes sense that ATL government needed to save some money and shrunk D to do it. It still looks funny on the satellite views since D is so much skinnier.
IIRC, I took TW from the old EA gates on the south side of C before ValuJet/AirTran took them over. This seems to confirm that TW was in C: https://apnews.com/ed7ece86eb982cec577f1393e2c1dcd3
I remember seeing 6 TW planes on the ground at the same time once when I took TW to MCO.
Kiwi was on D and they were a pretty useful choice for a little while
Jun 4, 2019, 3:19 pm
#23
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I've noticed the tunnel. You can still see the stairway (escalator?) leading to it on Google Maps or when taxiing on that ramp. I wonder if it's still there, or if they just filled the entrances in with concrete. I noticed on one side (C I think) there's an elevator where you would have gone down to presumably get to the tunnel.
Jun 4, 2019, 3:21 pm
#24
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IIRC, I took TW from the old EA gates on the south side of C before ValuJet/AirTran took them over. This seems to confirm that TW was in C: https://apnews.com/ed7ece86eb982cec577f1393e2c1dcd3
I remember seeing 6 TW planes on the ground at the same time once when I took TW to MCO.
Kiwi was on D and they were a pretty useful choice for a little while
I remember seeing 6 TW planes on the ground at the same time once when I took TW to MCO.
Kiwi was on D and they were a pretty useful choice for a little while
Jun 4, 2019, 7:15 pm
#25
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I've noticed the tunnel. You can still see the stairway (escalator?) leading to it on Google Maps or when taxiing on that ramp. I wonder if it's still there, or if they just filled the entrances in with concrete. I noticed on one side (C I think) there's an elevator where you would have gone down to presumably get to the tunnel.
Jun 4, 2019, 8:44 pm
#26
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I've noticed the tunnel. You can still see the stairway (escalator?) leading to it on Google Maps or when taxiing on that ramp. I wonder if it's still there, or if they just filled the entrances in with concrete. I noticed on one side (C I think) there's an elevator where you would have gone down to presumably get to the tunnel.
Jun 4, 2019, 8:52 pm
#27
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Connector from B to C at ATL
The next best thing now is the walk from E to F. Very peaceful with the painted glass.
E to F walkway at ATL
Jun 5, 2019, 8:40 am
#28
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someone with a better memory can probably correct this, but I always remember at one end of one terminal (on Eastern) having to walk out to the plane and takes stairs up to the planes. However, I don't remember taking stairs down to the airfield.
Jun 5, 2019, 1:22 pm
#29
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Also in Atlanta, but am surprised to see that AA is your preferred airline. Why is that coming from ATL? Don't you have trouble with frequency, etc.? I'd love to fly multiple airlines, but Delta sort of forces us to fly them, you know?
Jun 5, 2019, 2:01 pm
#30
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And it might not be there in its current form if Birmingham did not "fumble" it away...
https://www.cbs42.com/news/cbs-42-in...lta/1180005047
https://www.cbs42.com/news/cbs-42-in...lta/1180005047