Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Facts on ATL
Before it was Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta's airport was called Candler Field, named after Coca-Cola tycoon and former Atlanta mayor Asa Candler, on whose old racetrack property the airfield was built starting in 1925.
Source: Wikipedia
The first of the two names on the airport belongs to William B. Hartsfield, Atlanta's longest-serving mayor, who held office from 1937 to 1941 and again from 1942 to 1962. A self-described 'electronic mayor' obsessed with radios and televisions, he was credited by the New York Times with developing Atlanta into a national aviation center.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport's second name belongs to Maynard Jackson, who, elected in 1973, became Atlanta's first African-American mayor and the first of any major Southern city. The grandson of civil rights leader John Wesley Dobbs, he championed minority business participation and led the airport's major 1970s-80s modernization as mayor.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport carries two mayors' names: it became William B. Hartsfield Atlanta Airport in 1971 to honor the mayor who built it into a major hub, then Atlanta City Council added Maynard Jackson's name in 2003 to honor the mayor who led its 1970s rebuilding.
Source: Wikipedia
Hartsfield-Jackson has been the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic every year since 1998 (except a pandemic-driven dip in 2020), and in 2015 it became the first airport ever to serve 100 million passengers in a single year.
Source: Wikipedia
A fifth runway, 10/28, opened in 2006 after a $1.28 billion project that piled fill dirt eleven stories high in places. It bridges Interstate 285, making Hartsfield-Jackson the only currently active US civil airport with a runway crossing an interstate highway.
Source: Wikipedia
The control tower built alongside the fifth runway stands more than 398 feet tall, making it the tallest air traffic control tower in the United States. It replaced the airport's earlier 231-foot tower, which was demolished in 2006.
Source: Wikipedia
When the Atlanta City Council voted in 2003 to add Maynard Jackson's name to the airport, an initial plan to drop William Hartsfield's name entirely triggered public outcry — occurring, coincidentally, during a statewide debate over the Georgia flag — so the council kept both names.
Source: Wikipedia
During World War II, the US Army Air Forces operated the field jointly with the city's civilian airport and set a wartime record of 1,700 takeoffs and landings in a single day, making it the nation's busiest airfield by flight operations at the time.
Source: Wikipedia