Atlanta is unique for several reasons. - Atlanta is usually thought as being 'way in the south-east', but in actual fact it is in the far north-west corner of Georgia, just in the foothills of the Appalachians. - Atlanta is half-way from Detroit to Miami over-the-road - Atlanta was the result of the intersection of several key railroads lines, and is on the Atlantic side of the appalachians which was crucial to it's growth. - Key major Interstate Highways intersect around Atlanta. I75 (Detroit->Tampa and west FL coast), I85 (Key North-South east-coast Interstate), plus I20, East-West (Carolina's to Dallas) so it has always been a transportation hub. As far as a location for an airport hub goes, it's got a lot of pluses. And today 80-85% of the US population reside is within a two hour flight of Atlanta. The Atlanta airport was also smartly (and necessarily) re-built in the late 70s/early 80s to truly permit a world-class airport. Dallas is considerably "newer", and became AA's major hub only after it truly moved out of New York due to high-taxes. Matthew On Jan 15, 2004, at 6:19 AM, Allan9 wrote: > The airport was built to accomodate both aircraft and passenger > movements. > Maximum use of runways. Most airports all the people think about is > the > terminal building(s). DFW is another example. The old time airports > ORD/PIT/CLE/DTW etc all grew up piecemeal. They were and still are > playing > catch up. > ATL & DFW are products of the hub and spoke environment. > Al > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gerard M Foley" <gfoley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 9:11 AM > Subject: Re: ATC Wannabies? > > >> From: "Liam Tully" <lrtully@xxxxxxxxx> >> >> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 12:36 AM >> >> >> <snip> >> >>> Why is ATL soooo busy anyway - all they have is >>> the "Peachtree Plaza" and a nearby golf course! >>> What's the big attraction? >> >> Maybe you've heard of Delta Airlines. It's their hub. >> >> Gerry >> http://www.pbase.com/gfoley9999/ >> http://foley.ultinet.net/~gerry/aerial/aerial.html >> http://home.columbus.rr.com/gfoley >> http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/pollock/263/egypt/egypt.html >>