industry news

Cargo Facilities Expanding at Airport
Julia Glenn Carter of GlobalAtlanta

Atlanta, GA - 12/17/2004 - Dramatic growth in Atlanta's international air cargo is prompting Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to accelerate its evaluation of an additional air cargo facility to meet demand, said Robert Kennedy, the airport's director of marketing, public relations and intergovernmental affairs.

The airport's designation as a propagated plant inspection port is expected to fuel this growth trend by increasing trade with Latin American and Asia, Mr. Kennedy told GlobalAtlanta last week. Propagated plants are those that can be reproduced.

"The potential it creates for growth is significant," he said.

Some 293,000 metric tons of international cargo moved through the airport from January to October 2004, surpassing last year's all-time record of 280,000 tons, Mr. Kennedy said.

According to Airports Council International data, the Atlanta airport saw a 12.6 percent growth in freight tonnage from January to August 2004 compared to the same period last year.

"The great benefit of air cargo, particularly international air cargo, is that it creates jobs," said Mr. Kennedy.

Quoting data from the airport's most recent economic impact study, Peggy McCormick, director of economic development for the city, said of the airport's $18.8 billion revenue in 2002, air cargo represented $1.64 billion, creating 3,638 jobs in the freight transportation sector.

The airport's South Cargo Complex, which opened in May 1999 to accommodate large cargo aircraft, is reaching full capacity, said Mr. Kennedy. Initially, it saw only three cargo flights a week. Now, 70 flights a week depart from the complex.

Completion of construction on a fourth building at the complex is scheduled for the end of 2006. The airport is now considering stepping up those plans by one year, he said.

Mr. Kennedy said that while the cargo complex customarily pulls in business from areas north of Miami, east of Texas and south of Washington, freight occasionally comes from as far away as California. Some 4 million kilograms of freight produced in California were trucked to Atlanta for air shipment to Asia in 2002, he said.

Last summer the airport began accepting propagated plants with a low risk of disease and contamination at the Agriculture Department's Perishables Center until an adjacent building could be renovated to accept higher-risk plants. Renovations are expected to be complete by late 2005, said Mr. Kennedy.

For additional information, contact Mr. Kennedy at (404) 209-2945 ext. 183 or robert.kennedy@atlanta-airport.com.