Airport Cuts Ribbon on New International Terminal
Delta Air Lines flight 295 bound for Tokyo was the first plane to leave from Atlanta’s new Maynard H. Jackson, Jr. International Terminal Wednesday afternoon.
In some ways, its departure was more than a decade in the making.
When airport officials announced plans for a new International terminal back in 2000, they pegged the cost at $719-million.
By the time Delta pilots cut the ribbon to officially open Concourse F, that price had doubled.
Trent Miller says it’s worth the money.
On his way to Shanghai via the inaugural flight to Tokyo, the Atlanta resident praised the new facility.
“ I like it a lot. I think it is really nice and modern,” he said. “I think it was definitely a smart idea to build it considering how much traffic there is of people coming in and out through Atlanta.”
Airport officials say that number is exactly why the city needed the 1.2-million square foot terminal.
When Concourse E opened in 1994, about 3-million International passengers flowed through. By 2011, that number had more than tripled.
It’s projected to grow even more, as Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Lewis Miller told the crowd waiting for the first flight to board.
“It’s really going to open up new opportunities for Atlanta to continue to grow, and not be the gateway to Atlanta, but to be the gateway to the world.”
Speaking to reporters, Delta CEO Richard Anderson said the new concourse also allows Delta some room to breathe.
“We operate this facility with no spare gates. So we’re going to have some opportunity to ramp up our utilization here in Atlanta.”
Most everything went as planned, a random alarm was the only real distraction.
But three people who thought they would be on that inaugural flight ended up not going.
Delta had overbooked.
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