Beyond the Runways: The Story of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

The Atlanta Airport Atrium serves as a gateway to other areas and a gathering place for travelers .

The world’s busiest airport is located on what in the Eighteenth Century was part of Creek Indian Territory. Over one 150 years later, the Atlanta Speedway opened on that site in 1909. However, the track failed to attract consistent crowds after its opening, which resulted in significant debt for its majority shareholder, business tycoon Asa Candler, Sr., founder of the Coca-Cola Company. It was later abandoned and sat idle for a number of years. In 1919, Candler donated the use of the property to the City of Atlanta for an “aero landing place,” which began its transformation into an airport. It first became known as Candler Field and operated as an aerial exhibition and airmail hub before the city purchased the field in 1928.

A postcard depicting an Eastern Douglas DC-2 and Atlanta's 1932 terminal building in the background.

The airport’s development was rapid, with over a dozen buildings, new runways, and two passenger terminals constructed in the early 1930s. The city unveiled the country’s first air passenger terminal in 1931. By the middle of the decade, the Atlanta Municipal Airport had become the primary air hub in the Southeast, as both Delta Air Lines and Eastern Air Lines expanded their rudimentary route systems to serve a growing number of passengers. While Eastern introduced the 14-passenger Douglas DC-2 to its fleet in 1934, the smaller Delta unveiled the ten-passenger Lockheed Model 10 Electra in 1935. It was that carriers's first all metal aircraft and, although it was smaller than the DC-2, the Delta Lockheed was faster, cruising at over 200 mph. Delta then provided four daily departures along its east-west route and Eastern offered ten daily flights to points in the Midwest, Florida and the Northeast. Continuing on its record of innovation, the nation’s first air traffic control tower was erected at the airport in1938.

The city created a temporary passenger terminal in 1948 using materials from former Army buildings.

The United States Government declared the airport a military facility in 1940, which led to joint operations with the Army Air Forces. The airfield doubled in size to accommodate the influx of transient combat aircraft and other military operations, with a dedicated Air Freight Terminal established in 1944. New infrastructure, including another new control tower and administration building, were added, and Delta Air Lines moved its headquarters to the city during this period, constructing the largest aircraft hangar in the Southeast. With a boom in commercial air travel, the airport's operations increased significantly and in 1943, Atlanta was designated the busiest controlled airport in the United States. The airport doubled in size during World War II, becoming the busiest in the nation for flight operations, partly due to its role as an Atlanta Army Airfield servicing transient military aircraft. That field closed in 1946, and its facilities were returned to civilian control. The wartime surge in traffic continued into the post-war era. By 1948, an abandoned World War II army barracks had been expanded and renovated into a temporary terminal to handle increasing passenger traffic.

The Convair 880 was a narrow-body jet produced by General Dynamics to compete with Boeing.

The growth of Delta Air Lines also continued unabated. In the 1950s, the carrier experienced significant growth in Atlanta as it pioneered the hub-and-spoke model, using Atlanta as a central connecting point for flights across the Southeast. This strategy was supported by the carrier's merger with Chicago and Southern Air Lines in 1953, which brought international routes and added a strong north-south network to Delta's system. The airline also focused on technological innovation, installing radar on its planes and eventually introducing its first jet service in 1959, laying the groundwork for its future expansion. Delta experienced significant growth in the 1960s as well, establishing key innovations and infrastructure in Atlanta, including the opening of a large jet base and the introduction of computerized reservation systems. The airline also launched major new jet services, such as the first non-stop route from Atlanta to Los Angeles and the Convair 880 jet. This expansion solidified Atlanta as the central hub for Delta and mirrored the growth of the city itself. 

The new 1961 Atlanta terminal with its space-age design failed to keep pace with passenger growth.

During this time, the Atlanta Airport evolved from one with an overcrowded, temporary terminal to the nation's first modern "jet age" terminal which opened in 1961. Construction on this massive, centralized terminal began in the late 1950s to handle rapidly growing passenger traffic, becoming the largest terminal in the country at its opening and handling millions of travelers. The new, $21 million terminal officially opened on May 3, 1961, and was the first in the United States to be built specifically for the burgeoning jet age. At the time, it was the largest terminal in the country, featuring a central building with six pier concourses radiating outwards. The new facility, with its distinctive administration building and control tower, became an identifiable landmark for the next two decades. But, despite its massive size, the new terminal was quickly overwhelmed by the rapid growth of air travel and jet traffic, with passenger numbers exceeding its design capacity within its very first year of operation.

A Delta travel poster from 1978 advertising the company's new route to London, England.

The airport was renamed William B. Hartsfield International Airport in 1971 to honor the former mayor who championed the airport's growth from the barnstorming era to the jet age. To address continued severe congestion in the 1961 terminal, construction began in 1977 on the new Midfield Terminal Complex, which was a massive project designed to handle significantly more passengers on an annual basis. Following passage of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, Delta began non-stop service to London, marking a significant expansion of their international service that was facilitated by the opening of a new airport international arrivals building. The new, state-of-the-art Midfield Terminal, which included Concourse T and the northern half of Concourses A through D, opened on September 21, 1980, along with the Plane Train, (which didn’t have an official name at the time). To ensure it wouldn’t be outdated soon after its construction, this new terminal was designed to accommodate up to 55 million passengers per year. By 1984, a fourth parallel runway was completed, and the following year, another runway was extended, further increasing the airport's capacity.

The growth and expansion of Delta Air Lines has been synonymous with that of the Atlanta Airport.

The airline industry was in flux during this period, with Eastern Airlines liquidated and shut down in 1991, leaving Delta with a near-monopoly and positioning the airport as a dominant hub. During the 1990s, the airport underwent significant expansion, notably the opening of Concourse E to accommodate increased international traffic beginning with the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. In 2003 the airport was renamed yet again to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to honor Mayor Maynard Jackson, who led the rebuilding and expansion efforts at the airport during the 1970s.

Hartsfield Jackson holds the title of the world’s busiest airport, serving more than 108 million passengers during 2024 with a complex sprawling over 4,700 acres. From its worldwide headquarters in Atlanta, Delta Air Lines generates billions in economic impact for the region and is now Georgia’s largest employer with more than 38,000 workers. I’m sure Asa Candler, Sr. wouldn't recognize his "aero landing place" today, but would nonetheless be very proud.

Until next time...safe travels.