Airport Information

Fifth Runway

Click here to view the list of Written Reevaluation Documents for the Fifth Runway.

To greatly reduce aircraft and passenger delay, the City of Atlanta/Department of Aviation (DOA), owner and operator of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, is constructing a fifth runway. The runway is needed not only to reduce delay and improve passenger level of service today, but also to accommodate greater future aircraft demand. Existing and future demand continue to be driven by Atlanta’s strong economy.

How many passengers travel through Hartsfield-Jackson each year? Approximately 80 million passengers used Hartsfield-Jackson in 2000 and approximately 100 million are expected annually by the year 2010.

In the early 1990s, the DOA prepared an environmental assessment (EA) for construction and operation of a 6,000-foot runway to handle aircraft weighing less than 100,000 pounds. Example aircraft at that time were primarily turboprops carrying between 30 and 70 passengers, aircraft known in the industry as “commuter” aircraft. In 1994, the FAA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact, granting DOA federal approval to build that runway. As land acquisition for the runway proceeded in the mid 1990s, two important trends began to emerge. The commuter airlines started updating their fleets from being primarily turboprops to fleets that would become dominated by regional jets. Additionally, overall traffic at Hartsfield-Jackson continued to grow to a point where the capacity of the four-runway system was greatly exceeded. While a 6,000-foot runway would be able to provide some delay reduction, DOA in 1998 recognized the need to construct a longer fifth runway that could handle take-offs and landings by aircraft of all sizes.

The DOA determined that at least a 9,000-foot fifth runway would be needed to adequately handle the types of aircraft that most typically fly in and out of Hartsfield-Jackson. In April of 1999, the FAA started preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to investigate the environmental impacts and benefits of constructing and operating a runway of this length, as well as fifth runway alternatives. The FAA issued a favorable Record of Decision (ROD) for the 9,000-foot runway on September 27, 2001. The most important element of the project, the transportation of 27 million cubic yards of fill material to the construction site, started May 15, 2002. The runway is expected to be commissioned in the summer of 2006. The DOA currently refers to the runway as Runway 10-28.

Jet departures off the new runway will use noise abatement departure tracks (NADTs); NADTs have successfully concentrated jet departures over less noise-sensitive, pre-existing transportation corridors for over 30 years at Hartsfield-Jackson. Some existing runways’ NADTs will require modification due to the operation of the fifth runway. FAA aircraft separation rules necessitate the changes; these rules keep in-flight airplanes safely apart. Currently, it is expected that the FAA will alter westerly flow NADTs, while easterly flow NADTs will remain unchanged. Runway 26L’s NADT will change from 275 degrees to 285 degrees and Runway 27R’s will change from 250 degrees to 265 degrees. Runway 10-28 will have its westerly flow NADT assigned a no-wind heading of 235 degrees, which will create a flight track corridor over I-85. The easterly flow NADT will have a no-wind heading of 145 degrees assigned, which will take the aircraft over I-75.