ATLANTA
10 // Extreme Airportsparking stands. Eastern’s new concourse
measured 900ft (274m) and opened in
January. The other was used by Delta,
Capital Airlines and Southern Airlines and
cost $400,000. It was 1,250ft (381m) long,
included 17 gates and opened on October- Although traffic continued to increase,
by 1960 there were still only six carriers
serving the airport – Delta, Trans World,
Southern, Capital, Eastern and Northwest.
The developments on the ground
provided them with some respite from the
overcrowding, but the temporary terminal
remained in use into the 1960s.
Jet age
The first jet airliner to land at ATL was
a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle on a
demonstration tour. Its visit in 1957
foreshadowed the arrival of Delta’s Douglas
DC-8s two years later, and these larger
aircraft did little to assuage the strain being
placed on the airport’s facilities.
By then Eastern Air Lines, Delta Air Lines
and Southern Airways had developed
extensive networks radiating from Atlanta,
although the services offered were
relatively short range with the longest
being to Chicago, St Louis and Dallas.
May 3, 1961 marked the opening of the
largest single air passenger building in
the USA, known as the ‘jet age’ terminal.
The $20m facility, on the north side of
the airfield but south of and nearer to
the runways than the older temporary
facilities, had six linear concourses
radiating out from a central building and
was designed to accommodate 6m ppa.
Concourses A and B were dedicated
to Eastern; C was shared by Eastern,
Piedmont and Southern; D was used by
Northwest, TWA, Northwest and United
and Delta had exclusive use of E and F. Its
futuristic features included 60 television
screens displaying flight information
and air conditioning in the gate areas.
Five airbridges were installed for Delta
Air Lines – the first at the airport – and
the locally-based carrier had sole use of
132ft (40m) of more than 450ft (137m)
of desk space in the check-in hall. A
$35,000 mobile in the form of a phoenix
was suspended above the area that
connected check-in to the gates, and on
the upper level of the building, the Skyport
restaurant offered panoramic views of
the airfield. The roof of the Y-shaped C/D
pier was accessible to observers. Aircraft
movements took place on three runways
arranged in a triangle – 03/21 was 5,505ft
(1,678m), 09/27 was 7,860ft (2,400m) and
15/33 measured 7,220ft (2,200m). But
even before the ‘jet age’ terminal opened it
was short of capacity, and 9.5m travellers
passed through it during its first full year
of operations.
The airport was named William B
Hartsfield Airport after the mayor of the6-13_Atlanta.indd 10 11/05/2018 14: