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New runway in Atlanta to cut delays

Tampa International Airport officials say that the expected reduction of delays at Hartsfield will be felt here.

By JEAN HELLER
Published May 18, 2006

TAMPA - Florida residents have long known of the three inevitabilities in life: death, taxes and a change of planes in Atlanta.

The last one is about to get easier.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport, dedicated a new runway this week. It will go into operation later this month.

It is meant to improve on-time arrivals and departures in Atlanta, but the ripple effects of the new runway will reach to every airport linked to Atlanta, including Tampa International.

Tampa Bay area residents will notice improvements, whether they're meeting passengers inbound from Atlanta or catching a flight north, according to Louis Miller, executive director of TIA.

"Whenever an airport we use a lot does anything to cut delays, it helps us,'' Miller said. "We'll definitely see improvement."

Atlanta's new $1.3-billion runway, which brings the field's total to five, is part of a Federal Aviation Administration improvement program that will affect airports nationwide. TIA will get a new north-south runway in 2018, which will bring its total runways to four.

Atlanta's new runway is expected to cut delays there by five minutes, according to Marion Blakey, head of the FAA. Currently, one in four of the airport's flights is delayed an average of 17 minutes, though air traffic control problems and bad weather can stretch out the delays interminably.

In addition, the runway should save airlines $5-million a week in delay-related costs, including fuel burned sitting in line for takeoff.

"When there are problems in Atlanta, they have ramifications all over the country," Miller said. "But having this new runway up there will let them clear out backups faster."

Passengers waiting for flights to Atlanta at TIA on Wednesday were skeptical.

"Cutting delays by five minutes doesn't seem like much," said Carole Jackson, a nurse from Atlanta. "Last month I had a weather delay of nearly two hours. What's five minutes one way or another?"

Don Bollinger, a student who is also from Atlanta, said he was concerned about safety.

"They've already got too many aircraft buzzing around there for my comfort," Bollinger said. "How many runways can you use at once and still be safe?"

There are 18 arrivals from Atlanta and 18 departures to Atlanta from TIA every day. Of the 36 total flights, 10 are with Delta Air Lines and 16 are AirTran. There is no airline-by-airline breakdown of delays between TIA and Atlanta, but overall, Tampa has the better on-time record.

In March, for example, 23.5 percent of arrivals at Atlanta and 22.4 percent of departures experienced delays of 15 minutes or more. The FAA considers any flight that arrives or departs within 15 minutes of published schedule to be on time.

At TIA, 16.6 percent of arrivals and 14.9 percent of departures experienced delays.

"An airport can't control incoming delays; they happen somewhere else," Miller said. "Tampa has always had a good record of turning flights around and compensating for the inbound delays, which is why our on-time departures are always better than on-time arrivals."

Jean Heller can be reached at heller@sptimes.com.

[Last modified May 18, 2006, 06:01:16]