Various Aspects of Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport - Case Study Example

Introduction Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) which begun operation on September 21, 1980 is the world’s biggest airport. The main reason for the growth of the airport has been the growth in business which increased its sheer size. The airport had an advantage in terms of its geographical location which made different airlines like South West, Air Tran and Delta use the airport. This has resulted in the airport being the busiest airport in relation to the movement of passengers and the number of flights that come and go (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, 2011). This has resulted in the business of Atlanta to grow compared to similar other places which offer similar facilities. The airport had increased the business for the surrounding vicinity including State of Georgia. The business has been growing as the numbers of fliers have increased tremendously but it hasn’t been matched by an increase in the size of airport which has resulted in congestion and delays in flight. The research paper looks to provide the information about ATL so that the readers of this paper are able to understand the way ATL is working. The report looks to present the information by presenting the background information, financial aspect, the challenges faced and also the master plan of the airport. This information will thereby help the reader to understand the various aspect of ATL. Facts & Background Information The classification made by NPIAS is that ATL is a large hub. ATL is a public owned property and belongs to the state of Atlanta (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, 2011). The figures for 2008 reveal that around 48 million passengers flew from ATL which shows a growth of 1.2% compared to the number of passengers flown in 2007. It is also foud out that the total numbers of operations from ATL were 970,235 (ATL FactSheet, 2011). The breakup of the total operations is 721,146-air carrier, 240,922 air taxi, 7,059 GA INTRNT and 1,108 military operations. The airport looks towards excelling in services and has resulted in the hub to be large. Hartsfield International employs thousand of people thereby contributing significantly to the local economy as it helps to ensure that the per capita income rises. The airport is surrounded by various small business units the business of those units circulates on the working of the airport thereby contributing towards other people income (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 2011). A look at the area occupied by ATL states that the airport is built over 3,750 acres in Georgia, and is about ten miles from downtown Atlanta (ATL FactSheet, 2011). The airport has various cities around its vicinity which includes College Park, East Point, and Hapeville, and Atlanta. One of the prime reasons which have made ATL the busiest airport is the number of enplanements which takes place from this airport. It was found that in 1999 there were about 39 million passengers who had used the airport making it the largest in terms of passengers. The airport has also looked towards using the hub and spoke model which has allowed the airport to have airplanes for most destinations in the world (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 2011). ATL looks to have direct flights to 171 destinations making it one of the biggest airports in the world. The airport has different flights operating from it which includes AirTran Airways which is a low cost airline. The airport has around 29 operators operating their flights for various destinations which have made it easy for the passengers to find a seat on the plane. Also, the fact that ATL is the main air plane carrier in Georgia and the Southeastern United States which has ensured that the airport business grows and is being used as a major transport system There are 29 operators that provide continuous service from the airport (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 2011). The airlines which operate from the airport are Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air France, Air Jamaica, AirTran, American Airlines, America West, ASA, British Airways, Continental, Corporate Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier, KLM, Korean Air, LAPA, Lufthansa, Metro Jet, Midway Airlines, Midwest Express, Northwest Airlines, ProAir, South African Airways, Southeast Airlines, Swissair, TWA, United Airlines, US Airways and Vanguard Airlines. Run Way No Size Made of 08L/26R 9,000 by 150 ft Concrete 08R/26L 10,000 by 150 ft Concrete 09L/27R 9,001 by 150ft Concrete 10/28 9,000 by 150 ft Concrete The airport has five runways which enables hundreds of flight to land and take off each day. The runways are as follows. The above chart highlights the size of the runways (ATL Fact Sheet, 2011). The airport also supports a helipad which 52 by 52 foot asphalt structure called H1. The runway classification and dimensions matches to those mentioned by PIR (ATL FactSheet, 2011). The airport also doesn’t have any thresholds for taxing, takeoff, and landing rollout but have one for touchdown. The prime reason for not having a thresholds is that the length of the runway is sufficient and there are no obstacles in the path. Further, the structure of the runway is made of concrete and is in good conditions to ensure that no threshold is required. The airport has also looked towards using lighting and navigational system which has used ILS precision instruments (ATL Fact Sheet, 2011). The runway also has MALSR medium intensity approach lighting which ensures better runway facilities. The airport has also ensured to use high intensity approach lightning on 10, 8L, and 9R runways. The airport has also looked towards using slope surface at 50:1 for the first 10,000 feet and 40:1 for the next 40,000 feet. This is matched by the surface area which increases so as to ensure that the planes find it easy to operate from there. The Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport is surrounded by class B airspace which reaches nearly 12,500 feet from the nearest airport. The airport apart from the B classification also has E airspace to FL180 (ATL Fact Sheet, 2011). The airport also has E airspace classification which allows easy usage for IFR traffic. Atlanta International also has v18, v97, v222, and v333 crossing which ensure ease of traffic at the airport. There are various high altitude airways like J4, J37, J43, J45, J52, J91, and J239 which passes over the airport. The airport also looks to ensure that there is no restricted in the airport. Financial Information The following financial information is extracted for the airport Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport 2007 2009 2010 Nonoperating Revenues $7,046,620,129 $3,795,171,081 $4,013,761,307 Aeronautical Operating Revenues $7,791,342,211 $8,376,105,951 $8,878,586,885 Nonaeronautical Operating Revenues $7,024,350,544 $6,867,065,642 $6,995,226,764 Total Operating revenue $14,815,692,755 $15,243,171,593 $15,873,813,649 Operating Expenses $9,821,239,379 $15,523,319,075 $15,856,555,288 Income from Operations $4,994,453,376 ($280,147,482) $17,258,361 The above data has been taken from CATS Reports 126 and 127 for 2007, 2009 and 2010 The financial figures bring forward the fact that the aeronautical operating revenues has increased by $1,058,120,894 in 2010 over 2007 (Federal Aviation Administration, 2005). Similarly the non-aeronautical operating revenues and non-operating revenues decreased by $3,032,858,822 and $29,123,780 respectively. This has resulted in the operating profits to match with the operating expenses. Similarly the financial figures bring forward the fact that income from operations decreased by $4,977,195,015 during the same period. This brings to the fact that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has sufficient profits and is growing with the growth in business which will ensure that the airport continues to perform similarly in the future. The airport revenue is generated from different sources which include concessions revenues, parking and ground transportation revenues. The airline revenues include landing fees, terminal rentals, reimbursed expenses and other revenues (Hartsfield-Jackson, 2011). Also the growth in parking for both planes and cars and enplanements is bound to make the profits rise. The airport has also witnessed in the increase of other rentals and maintenance cost. Passenger facility charges and Airport Improvement Program are not included in the revenue of the airport as these are grants by the government. The overall increase in cost and other factors has increased the cost for the operators which are bound to make the revenues from the different operations to rise. Challenges The most important challenge facing the airport is the finance required fro the new international terminal. This makes it important that the airport looks to strengthen its financial statement so that they can find easy finance. The airport also faces a challenge of ensuring that Delta Airlines which accounts for most business at the airport satisfied as it could lead towards loss of business at the same time attract new operators so that the cost reduces. The airport also needs to look towards updating their airport as there is a growth and increase in air traffic. This has given rise to traffic congestion which is an issue surrounding the airport and needs to be sorted out soon (Harsha & Pavithra, 2009). The prime reason for increasing air congestion is the increased demand for air travel and the paucity of operational capacity at most airport has made it difficult to handle the rising traffic. This has resulted in loss of billions of dollar. This has limited the number of flights taking off and landing at the airport and is a matter of concern to be looked immediately. The other factor is the limited runways available for the flights. Along with it spacing between planes for safety, gate availability, and air traffic control are some of the issues surrounding ATL and needs to be looked into so that the congestion at the airport reduces. Some unforeseen circumstances like bad-weather, excessive demand, over-scheduling of flights, especially at peak hours has resulted in increased traffic congestion and loss for the airport. This problem could have been handled if passengers had no time preference which would have made it possible to have flights throughout the day. This is a difficult proposition for the airport authorities as human behavior is irrational and it is difficult to change it. This situation has resulted in flights to be filled during peak time and have fewer passengers during off time. This has divided the passenger between high value of time and low value of time. This makes it important that tickets are priced accordingly so that all flights have passengers and the congestion reduces at the airport. Master Plan Hartsfield International has a history of investing the required funds to ensure that the airport improves. This is seen from the investments made during 2005 to 2009 which shows that 53 million were invested in 2005, 79 million in 2006, 57 million in 2007 25 million in 2008, and 48 million dollars in 2009. All this funds were received in the form of grants which ensured that the improvement work was carried out efficiently. The master plan indicates that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has initiated a $6.7 billion capital improvement plan (JAT, 2011). The improvements that the airport looks to make in the future include a runway of 9,000-feet, a full-length parallel taxiway (Competition Plan, 2000). The purpose of having a full-length parallel taxiway is to provide access from the airfield and terminals. The airport is also looking towards a new international terminal which will be an extension of Concourse E. The master plan also shows that the airport is looking towards constructing a rental car centre which can accommodate around 9000 to 10000 cars which can move in and out. In this car centre the airport plans to have customer service centers, storage and maintenance areas, wash lanes and fueling positions which will help to improve the quality for service. The airport authority also plans for an additional domestic terminal which will be located at the south end of the airfield and will have to control the domestic flights better. The growth in traffic also requires the airport authority to look towards improving ground service equipment maintenance facilities, airport support facilities, aircraft maintenance, and cargo facilities so that the congestion reduces and flights are able to fly on time. The ATL could also look towards using demand management policies which will help the airport to reduce the amount of congestion taking place (Harsha & Pavithra, 2009). The airport can look towards having an Air traffic flow management (ATFM) which looks to find out the number of flights which can land and fly in an hour based on 15 minute constraints which includes runway, gate availability, and other safety constraints. This will help the airport authority to estimate the amount of traffic that can be controlled. The technique requires simplicity and the airport authority needs to apply it to find the time slots for the airlines so that efficiency in operations increases. There could be situation where the demand capacity mismatches which is mainly due to the landing and taking off of flights. This will help airlines to ensure that the flights are on time and will ensure that they are able to reschedule the flights in case of delays. The airline can do this by trading slots between the airlines thereby ensuring there is no time wastage. The master plan can also look towards controlling congestion by ensuring that they have an airport congestion pricing which will help to find out the actual number of flights that can be controlled during the peak time which will help to ensure that congestion is controlled to a large extent (Nibbering, Paul, 2010). This will help the airlines to ensure passenger during off peak hours as passengers are of the belief that during high peak hour the quality of service is better. This will help the airline to ensure that people who are price elastic switch to off time travel and will help to control the traffic and reduce congestion at the airport. Conclusion The report presents the fact that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport which is one of the busiest airport needs to undergo change with time and ensure that the technological advancement helps in innovation and ensuring better services. Traffic congestion is a major issue surrounding the airport and a way needs to be found out to sort it. The airport has to look towards increasing passenger traffic during off peak hours as it will help to reduce congestion. The airport also needs to look towards development of new terminals and runways so that congestion gets controlled and the flights are able to operate on time. ATL has a strong advantage of location and the growing relationship with Delta will help ATL in the long run. At this point of time ATL needs to fix the problems they are facing so that they are able to handle the increase in traffic in a better way and ensure better efficiency in services. References ATL Factsheet. 2011. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. http://www.atlanta-airport.com/Airport/ATL/ATL_FactSheet.aspx Competition Plan. 2000. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. http://www.atlanta-airport.com/docs/Facilities/airport_complan.pdf Federal Aviation Administration. 2005. Compliance Activity Tracking System (CATS). http://cats.airports.faa.gov/Reports/rpt127_prior_2009.cfm?RegionID=0&AirportID=2436&state=0&Year=2005&view=Screen Harsha, Pavithra. 2009. Mitigating Airport Congestion: Market Mechanisms and Airline Response Models. http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/46387/427548093.pdf?sequence=1 Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. 2011. Master Plan Summary. http://www.atlanta-airport.com/forms/airport/frmAirportInformationConstruction_MasterPlanSumm.aspx Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International. 2011. Airport IQ 5010: Airport master Records and Reports. http://www.gcr1.com/5010web/airport.cfm?Site=ATL JAT. 2011. Financial Program Consult. http://www.jatconsulting.net/HJAirportDevProg.html Nibbering, Paul. 2010. Managing Airport Congestion: the Effects of Runway Peak Pricing. Airport Management. http://www.aerlines.nl/issue_41/41_Nibbering.pdf Read More