Friday, July 25, 2003

Hartsfield number one

Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport is ranked first in 2001 productivity and efficiency among the 50 leading airports worldwide according to the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS), officials announced last week. Hartsfield's No. 1 ranking leads Charlotte, Honolulu, Minneapolis and Houston which round out the top five most productive airports.

The ATRS team, formed in 1995, consists of over 500 international academics, policy makers and industry experts. It was launched as a special interest group of the World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR) to exchange research ideas and enhance research capabilities among airline, airport governments and research institutes.

The ATRS Benchmarking Report measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operation: productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and security charges for up to 90 airports in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.

A number of factors were considered in determining that Hartsfield is the most efficient Airport including offering the lowest landing fees of any major U.S. airport at $0.45 per 1,000 pounds of lading weight. The cost per enplaned passenger is only $2.55, second only to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

The operation of four parallel runways contributes to increased efficiency as a result of the simplicity of their design and allows for 190 takeoffs and landings per hour under normal clear weather conditions. Volume and weather-related delays will drop significantly in 2006 when the fifth runway is operational.

In 2002, ATRS published Global Standards for Airport Excellence, representing one of the first attempts to produce an annual, comprehensive benchmark of the operational and financial performance of airports around the world and the 2003 report further refines those efforts.

"We are very pleased that the ATRS has recognized our efficiency as the best among the world's largest and busiest airports," Aviation General Manager Ben DeCosta said. "We are fortunate that strong foresight has allowed Hartsfield to grow to meet passenger demand and that with the fiscal responsibility the Airport has enjoyed, that we are currently moving forward with the additional necessary expansion projects."