Atlanta Receives Grant To Study Need For Second Airport

"Federal officials...planted the seeds for a second commercial airport in metro Atlanta, and in doing so, launched what will likely be a long-running debate about where it should be located."

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters announced a $1 million grant to study capacity expansion in Atlanta.

"Peters joined Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey, who presented the results of a study that found major U.S. cities must expand their airports or build new ones in the next 20 years to keep pace with an ever-increasing demand for air travel. Blakey said the nation might need to build up to four more major commercial airports during the next three decades."

"'Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas and San Diego are among the likely candidates,' Blakey wrote in the preface of the FAA report, 'Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System.'"

"Hartsfield-Jackson currently is the world's busiest airport, with about 86 million passengers a year — but one reason it is so busy is that, unlike in some other major metro areas, it is the lone commercial airport for the region."

"A second Atlanta airport is a far-off idea — the just-announced study could take two years. And if that study calls for a new airfield, it could be two decades before jets land on its runways. But the idea that the Atlanta metro area could get a second commercial airport has rekindled the old north-south debate: Should it be built on the south side, which has fewer residents to complain and cheaper, more available land, or on the fast-growing north side, closer to the passengers who will use it? The discussion is likely to continue for years as private citizens, aviation experts, politicians and pundits join the fray."