Atlanta Airport Guide: Inside the World’s Busiest Hub
Atlanta Airport handles more than 100 million passengers a year on five parallel runways. Read how Delta's fortress hub works, and where to watch it.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport sits about 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Atlanta, straddling the Fulton and Clayton county line. It has been the busiest passenger airport on the planet almost every year since 1998, and it is the fortress hub of Delta Air Lines. Five parallel runways, seven concourses and a tower taller than any other in the United States give Atlanta Airport the feel of a small city. Spotters know it for triple simultaneous approaches and a relentless stream of Delta narrow bodies.
Atlanta Airport at a Glance
The codes are ATL and KATL. The field lies at an elevation of 1,026 ft (313 m), on a plateau between the cities of College Park, East Point and Hapeville. It covers roughly 4,700 acres and operates five runways, all concrete and all aligned east to west. Two terminals, Domestic and International, link seven concourses through the underground Plane Train.
In 2025 Atlanta Airport handled around 106 million passengers, slightly down on the record year of 2024 but still enough to hold first place worldwide. Delta carries roughly three quarters of them. Southwest, American and Frontier also run sizeable operations here. The City of Atlanta Department of Aviation owns and runs the airport. Operating hours, parking rates and flight status are published on the airport’s official website.
How Atlanta’s Airport Came to Be
The site began life as the Atlanta Speedway, an abandoned motor racing oval. In 1925 Mayor Walter Sims signed a five year rent free lease on 287 acres of it and named the new field after Asa Candler, the Coca Cola magnate who had owned the track. The first aircraft to land was a Florida Airways mail plane from Jacksonville on 15 September 1926.
Delta moved its headquarters from Monroe, Louisiana, to Candler Field in 1941, a decision that shaped everything that followed. The field took the name of long serving Mayor William B. Hartsfield in 1971. A vast midfield terminal opened in 1980 and set the template of parallel concourses still in use today.
The fifth runway, 10/28, opened in 2006 after a $1.28 billion project that bridged Interstate 285. In 2003 the city council added the name of Maynard Jackson, the city’s first black mayor, and the international terminal that bears his name opened on the east side of the field in 2012.
Runways at Atlanta Airport
All five runways are 46 m (150 ft) wide and surfaced in concrete. They form three groups. The northern pair is 08L/26R at 2,743 m (9,000 ft) and 08R/26L at 3,048 m (9,999 ft). The central pair is 09L/27R at 3,776 m (12,390 ft), the longest on the field and the one certified for the Airbus A380, and 09R/27L at 2,743 m (9,000 ft). Runway 10/28, the southernmost, is also 2,743 m (9,000 ft) and is the only civil runway in the United States that crosses an interstate.
In normal operation the outer runways take arrivals and the inner runways take departures. The wide spacing between the three groups allows triple simultaneous instrument approaches, something very few airports anywhere can offer. Westerly flow, landing on the 26 and 27 runways, is the more common configuration.
Taxiway Victor, an end around taxiway opened in 2007, lets aircraft landing on 08L/26R reach the terminals without crossing an active departure runway. Atlanta Airport claims it saves the airlines tens of millions of dollars in fuel each year. The control tower, at around 398 ft (121 m), is the tallest in the country.
Terminals and Airlines
The Domestic Terminal on the west side has North and South halves. Delta checks in on the South side, with most other domestic carriers on the North side. Concourse T is attached to the terminal itself, and Concourses A to E run in parallel to the east, each reached by the Plane Train or the underground walkway.
Delta uses every concourse, concentrating mainline flights in A, B and the south end of T. Delta Connection regionals cluster on the north side of Concourse C, while Southwest occupies the south side of the same building. Frontier works from the north end of Concourse E.
The Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal on the east side feeds Concourse F directly. All foreign carriers use F, among them British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Korean Air. Delta’s long haul flights use both F and E. Concourse F is the only concourse with a gate able to take an A380.
Routes and Destinations
Delta alone operates just over 1,000 departures a day from Atlanta Airport to more than 200 destinations. Leisure traffic to Florida dominates the domestic rankings. Orlando is the busiest route with around 1.4 million passengers a year, followed by Fort Lauderdale, New York LaGuardia, Tampa and Dallas Fort Worth.
Amsterdam, Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow are the busiest international routes, each carrying between 750,000 and 800,000 passengers a year. Delta’s SkyTeam partners KLM and Air France reinforce the first two. The longest flight is Delta’s service to Johannesburg, well over 8,400 miles (13,500 km), with Cape Town, Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai also on the map. Riyadh joins the network in late 2026.
Cargo matters less than at Memphis or Louisville, but a cargo complex on the south side handles freighters from FedEx Express, DHL Aviation and AeroLogic. Summer brings the peak, with extra transatlantic frequencies and Caribbean holiday flying.
Getting to and from Atlanta Airport
MARTA rail is the cheapest sensible option. The Red and Gold lines terminate at Airport station inside the Domestic Terminal, and a train to Five Points downtown takes around 20 minutes for a few dollars. MARTA bus Route 191 links the International Terminal to the rail network.
By road, Interstate 85 serves the Domestic Terminal and Interstate 75 the International Terminal, with Interstate 285 looping around the southern edge of the field. A taxi to Midtown costs around $40 and takes 20 to 40 minutes depending on traffic, which in Atlanta can be severe.
The free ATL SkyTrain runs between the Domestic Terminal, the convention centre and the Rental Car Center. Parking ranges from economy lots on the perimeter to hourly decks beside each terminal. Transfers between the two terminals are free on the Plane Train airside, or on a landside shuttle bus.
Spotting and Photography
The best known viewpoint is the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel on Virginia Avenue, whose runway facing rooms and restaurant terrace overlook the northern pair of runways. Spotters book a high floor on the airfield side and watch the arrivals stream onto 26R or 08L. The Delta Flight Museum nearby holds the Spirit of Delta Boeing 767-200 and a 747-400 open to visitors.
On the south side, Sullivan Road near the threshold of Runway 28 gives fence line views of landing traffic, mostly Delta Boeing 737-900ERs, Airbus A321s and the heavies arriving from Europe in the afternoon. Light is best from the south in the morning and from the north late in the day. The Concourse F windows give good views of wide bodies at the gates.
Airport police patrol regularly. Stay on public land, keep clear of the fences and be ready to explain what you are doing. Atlanta Airport tolerates photography from public roads, but a step ladder and a long lens draw attention.
What Comes Next
The ATLNext capital programme is worth more than $6 billion over two decades. It has already delivered a widened Concourse T, new parking decks and a modernised Domestic Terminal canopy. Work is underway to widen Concourse D in sections, and a future Concourse G east of F has been proposed for more international gates.
A sixth runway has appeared in long range planning, though no construction date exists. Delta’s dominance is unlikely to loosen, so growth will mirror Delta’s fleet plan: bigger narrow bodies and more Airbus A350s on the long haul routes.
Atlanta Airport will stay the busiest airport in the world for as long as Delta wants it to be, and nothing suggests that will change soon. Compare it with the other giants on the Airports of the World map.
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