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New Runway Eases Atlanta Airport Gridlock

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 3, 2007

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Changing planes in Atlanta – once a nightmare for passengers – won’t be such a hassle anymore.

The world’s busiest airport has opened a new taxiway designed to reduce delays by allowing landing planes to avoid crossing active runways while en route to the terminal.

The $43 million project, which took a year to construct, has the potential to save airlines $27 million per year in fuel costs, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

More than half the flights that land at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International will be able to use the end-around taxiway, which allows newly-landed planes to roll to their gates unimpeded, using underpasses 30 feet below active runways. There are no more intersections between taxiway and runway.

The U-shaped taxiway is expected to serve the 700 planes per day that land on the airport’s northern runway. Planes can access the taxiway from the end of the runway.

The taxiway is part of a 10-year, $5.4 billion development program, underwritten by the airport and the City of Atlanta, that will expand current facilities to meet anticipated air traffic demand.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson features five parallel runways in an east-west configuration.

It serves more than 83 million passengers per year and has ranked as the world’s busiest airport since 1998, according to the Airports Council International.

The airport is located 10 miles from downtown Atlanta.

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