Delta Air Lines Airport & Airspace Capacity Case Study
The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is one of the largest airports in the world and is the main hub for Delta Air Lines, one of the largest airlines in the world. This case study will examine the relationship between demand and capacity for the home hub of Delta Air Lines. Future predictions for air travel estimate enormous growth rates as high as 50% by the year 2025. Airlines, airports, and the entire air-travel infrastructure will be challenged with the task of keeping up with this level of demand as we move towards the future.
Today, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is known to be one the busiest airports in the world. Over 250,000 passengers arrive and depart daily to over 225 different locations around the world. Roughly 50 different transport and cargo airlines operate from ATL however Delta Air Lines (headquartered in Atlanta, GA) calls this hub home. ATL is also the primary location of TechOps which is Delta’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul team that services Delta’s air fleet and the fleets of many other airlines. ATL has five runways ranging from 9,000 – 12,000ft in length and ratings of category I – category III. The ATL terminal is 130 acres in area with 7 concourses and 207 gates. ATL is within a 2 hour flight of 80% of the U.S. making the hub a very strong central location point for many origins of travel.
The aviation industry has been aware of the large growth trends in air-travel for many years and has set about performing detailed simulations of future requirements. Forecasters use Peak Month Average Weekday (PMAWD) and Design Day Flight Schedule (DDFS) datasets in conjuncture with advanced software to glimp...
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...ich is predicted by the FAA, then larger changes will likely be in line for ATL and other hubs.
Works Cited
Hartsfield –Jackson Atlanta International Airport (n.d.). ATL Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://www.atlanta-airport.com/Airport/ATL/ATL_Factsheet.aspx Hartsfield –Jackson Atlanta International Airport (n.d.). Case Study. Airport Master Plan – Demand/Capacity Analysis and Facility Requirements Summary. Retrieved from http://www.atlanta-airport.com/Airport/MasterPlan/ATL-FacReqts-DRAFT-Summary-101113.pdf Hartsfield –Jackson Atlanta International Airport (n.d.). Case Study. Atlanta Metropolitan Aviation Capacity Study Phase II. Retrieved from http://www.atlanta-airport.com/docs/Airport/AMACSExecutiveSummary.pdf Federal Aviation Administration (n.d.). NextGen. NextGen Implementation Plan 2013. Retrieved from
https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/implementation/
For those who are unfamiliar with it, BWI Airport is a 3,600-acre international airport located 10 miles south of Baltimore and 32 miles northeast of the nation’s capital. BWI provides 21,155 total jobs, affording its employees with over $1.2 billion annually in personal income and tax revenues upwards of $326 million. 22.7 million individuals travelled through BWI last year, providing the facility and its surrounding areas with billions of dollars worth of business and revenues. BWI has the largest economic impact of any airport in the state of Maryland, and is a central hub of activity and commerce for the local community as well.
Delta Airlines has been a vibrant company in the airline industry, with great success over the years. Delta airlines started as a crops dusting company to serving more than 572 destinations, in 65 countries on six continents (Allan, H., David. H. ,2012). Delta airline moved its headquarters from Monroe, Louisiana to the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The great management strategies have portrayed from time to time to be fruitful even in the verge of a recession. With these consistency in delivery of services, it is clear that the company is out to outdo its competitors and turn out to be the greatest airline in the world.
“All told, there is over 6 million square feet of public space at DIA. The airport brags that they have room to build another terminal and two more concourses and could serve 100 million passengers a year. The airport flew 50.5 million in 2008” (Anomalies Unlimited 3). There is no need for that much room in any one airport especially when they are only flying half as many as th...
Challenged by an old, obsolete airport, the city of Denver decided on not only doing an expansion but ultimately building a fully dedicated facility in an entirely new location. Twice the size of Manhattan, the airport was to be the largest in the United States and was specially designed to handle concentrated hubbing traffic (Montealgre et al, 1996, p.4). The master plan encompassed a fast tracked build-design scheme that called for utmost operational efficiency which would consequently attract large airlines to choose DIA as their main Southwestern hub (Nice, n.d.). Dominance of the DIA would fuel an economic boom in Denver, but for this to take place—a fast passenger turnover would be required, leading to the perception that they had to implement an airport-wide automated baggage handling system in spite of the known risks. This critical piece of the airport wou...
Delta does business globally in 503 cities in 94 countries and is the third largest airline in the United States. In 2003, Delta's daily needs included 7.3 million gallons of fuel, 109,000 meals and snacks, 151,000 bottles of water, 87,000 cans of soda, and 219,000 pounds of ice. Its daily operations also required large amounts of information relating to such areas as flight schedules, gate information, baggage handling, customer service, and tower operation. To be competitive in the airline industry, Delta required an efficient flow of operations. However, accurate advanced planning is nearly impossible because of such elements as changing economic realities and weather conditions, and unexpected maintenance issues.
According to the International Air Transport Association, 2001 was only the second year in the history of civil aviation in which international traffic declined. Overall, it is believed that the IATA membership of airlines collectively lost more than US$12 billion during this time (Dixon, 2002).
Airport planning, once carried out utilizing a single future forecast, failed to account for the complexity and uncertainty of the aviation industry. Today, it is widely assumed airport success can only be met through the utilization of a flexible, integrated planning approach that sees forecasts as incorrect.
Before to select the proper alternative, three alternatives were analysed and evaluated under four decisions criteria: customer experience, cost, growth rate / market penetration and ease to implementation (See Exhibit 2: Factor Analysis). Between all the alternatives, it was suggested that Southwest Airlines enters to New York City by bidding the slots and gates at the LGA (See Exhibit 3: Alternatives Analysis). This alternative sustains the challenge of changing the customer experience which means adding more flights from and to the East; furthermore, entering to new markets will reinforce “the power of the network” through LGA. At the same time, this decision will allow signing more code-sharing agreements with other airlines flying to international destinations and offer new products and services to LUV customers as loyalty rewards, in-flight internet, onboard duty-free purchases, etc.; as a result of this, it will increase passenger’s insights and experiences by flying with Southwest Airlines. Nevertheless, there is potential risk by selecting this alternative, in the recent years the energy prices has had a huge increase affecting costs, fares and even capacity needed, however Southwest Airlines has been able to hedge fuel for decad...
Airline and travel industry profitability has been strapped by a series of events starting with a recession in business travel after the dotcom bust, followed by 9/11, the SARS epidemic, the Iraq wars, rising aviation turbine fuel prices, and the challenge from low-cost carriers. (Narayan Pandit, 2005) The fallout from rising fuel prices has been so extreme that any efficiency gains that airlines attempted to make could not make up for structural problems where labor costs remained high and low cost competition had continued to drive down yields or average fares at leading hub airports. In the last decade, US airlines alone had a yearly average of net losses of $9.1 billion (Coombs, 2011).
The main opportunities that the scheduled air transportation will have in the next five years are the possible decrease of TSA agents at airports, technology increasing the safety and comfort of the flights for the passengers and ...
Several large scale, interrelated conditions have affected the airline industry over the past several years in such a manner that every carrier has had to respond in order to remain viable and competitive.
Air travel has grown in the past decade. Travel grew strongly for both leisure and business purposes. India will have nearly 800 to 1000 airplanes by 2023, it was estimated by Airbus. In spite of growth between 30 to 50 per cent in Indian aviation industry, losses of approximately 2200 crore is estimated for the current year.
International airlines are greatly affected by trade relations that their country has with others. Unless governments of the two countries trade with each other, there could be restrictions of flying into particular area leading to a loss of potential air traffic (e.g. Pakistan & India)
The 5 year forecast reflect the airport will remain a primary commercial service with approximately 17 million enplanements per year. There are 28 aircraft based at Miami and a projected 117 million in airport improvements projected. (2015-2019 NPIAS Report, 2015) The Miami International Airport is operated by Miami-Dade Aviation Department and is the property of Miami-Dade County government. The aviation director oversees the Miami Airport with twelve other executive director positions covering a wide range of departments.
Airports are vast facilities covering many acres of land where passenger beginning the flight portions of their travels. The first flight by the Wright brothers in Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903 only required a runway. As the technology of flight advanced to offer passenger service, there was soon a need for a building to manage passenger needs. Airports of today provide many key services needed for the traveler whether they are beginning, transferring, or ending their journeys. The demand for air transportation rises each year, according to the Department of Transportation (United States Department of Transportation, 2013) 815.3 passengers traveled by airplanes in 2012. With the demand expected to rise, airports must be able to keep pace with services. There are many different services provided however, this report will discuss terminal design, baggage handling, and ground access.