QueerEyeForDelta

Does anyone know why concourses C and D are narrower than A and B? All four were part of the original design and IIRC opened at the same time.

WBurcham

Are you sure that they are?

monitor

Maybe because at the beginning, Delta only used A and part of B while Eastern used the other part of B and all or most of C. D was strictly purgatory for the airlines that almost nobody from Atlanta ever used.

ATL787

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those the old Eastern airlines concourses?

They're used mostly for Airtran and Delta Connection (little or no mainline Delta), so it seems like the square footage need would be less, but they can cram a lot of CRJ's into a very small space...

keeton

I think you're right. The Eastern use of B and C is why there was the "secret" tunnel between B and C (only recently closed).

Originally, all international flights went from the "T" gates - and why it's lettering is not in sequence with the other concourses. It was just called "International" when it opened.

C and D _are_ narrower and have fewer escalators to the trains.

monitor

IIRC, when the airport opened, there was no T concourse. Only A thru D. T came later, maybe as much as three or four years later.

yamakake

ATL opened in 1980 and the T gates weren't until much, much later (in the early '90s, IIRC). International arrivals were in T, very convenient as you could exit directly landside, rather than the present arrangement that requires you to re-enter the airport and travel from E to the terminal.

monitor

Now I recall that when they built it it was referred to as the International Terminal. I don't remember when it started to be called "T."

bigsaabowski

Concourse C is the same width as A and B - 90 feet. Concourse D was built at a width of 67 feet in order to make ramp 5 wider (the ramp between D and E).

GaryO3

Off topic but I loved the tunnel NOBODY ever seemed to use it... when did it close?

ecaarch

Close but not exactly.

A, B & C are the same width. They were all designed for connecting traffic - A and half of B for DL, C and the other half of B for EA.

D was designed much narrower since the airlines originally in D used it for O&D traffic only. It was never envisioned to handle connecting traffic. It housed airlines like TW, BN, PI, etc.

The original "midfield" complex was constructed in the late 70's while E was added in the early 90's, so the distance betwen D and E didn't exist when D was constructed.

What is now called T was in fact the original "international terminal" and the T designation didn't come along until after E was constructed (although I don't know exactly how closely the "T" name followed the completion of E.)

lchansen

When the midfield terminal opened in 1980, half of what is now 'T' existed on the north portion. The rest of the international pier (what Delta occupies now) was added later.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi...0-%202899.html

bigsaabowski

Thanks for the correction. I always find it a pain in the arse to fly in and out of D on a busy day.

ecaarch

I gotta agree with you there.

troyintn

and why it was quicker then going all the way down to the trains if your flight was on the side.