Friday, Febraury 27, 2004

Hartsfield has busiest freight year

Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport announced that 2003 was its busiest year ever in terms of freight and express handled. Cargo carriers at the world’s busiest passenger airport transported more than 683,416 metric tons of freight and express. Additionally, despite the restrictions imposed upon transporting mail on passenger aircraft after 9/11, the airlines operating at the airport transported more than 115,000 metric tons of mail during 2003.

“The significant increase in cargo operations is a positive indicator for the region’s economy. In fact, we saw the most international cargo at Hartsfield-Jackson in our history, almost 280,000 metric tons,” said Aviation General Manager Ben DeCosta. “Recording an 8.78 percent jump in cargo operations is outstanding.”

Delta Air Lines and its affiliated carriers (Atlantic Southeast Airlines, and Comair), FedEx, UPS, Korean Air, and Lufthansa Air Cargo were the top freight and express airlines operating at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in 2003.

Four all-cargo carriers increased the frequency of their weekly operations at Hartsfield-Jackson during 2003. British Airways and Polar/Qantas tripled their weekly flights offerings from one to three. China Airlines raised its weekly flights from three to five, and Martinair’s cargo service increased from five flights per week to 6 flights per week. More information on cargo service at Hartsfield-Jackson is available online at www.atlanta-airport.com.