Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport plans to expand its South security checkpoint, as lines for TSA screening increasingly stretch through the terminal during busy periods.
The Atlanta airport plans to expand the South security checkpoint, near Delta Air Lines’ check-in counters, from four lanes to nine lanes.
Hartsfield-Jackson deputy general manager Greg Richardson said the airport hopes to expand the checkpoint within the next year, on an expedited time frame.
"Clearly there is a demand," Richardson said. "This place is getting busier and busier, so we've got to find relief."
All existing lanes will remain operational during the expansion, according to the airport.
The queuing area for the new lanes would take up Delta Air Lines space previously used as an international check-in area before the international terminal opened in 2012. Atlanta-based Delta has noted that expansion of the domestic security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson is an upcoming project in the terminal modernization.
It’s yet to be determined what the configuration for Clear and PreCheck lines will be, Richardson said. During peak periods, Clear lines often back up from the south side of the main Transportation Security Administration checkpoint across the walkway into the Delta check-in area.
At the new security lanes to be added, passengers would exit the checkpoint where some concessions are located, including a Minute Suites opened last year and a Georgia Lottery location opened earlier this year. Those would need to be relocated, Richardson said.
“It’s a little bit of a rework,” Richardson said.
The expanded South security checkpoint is one of the projects to be funded with bonds the airport plans to issue.
Hartsfield-Jackson plans to issue about $400 million in general airport revenue bonds for gate renovations, the security checkpoint expansion and other projects.
Also planned are passenger facility charge-backed bonds for about $450 million in projects to modernize the terminal, including curbside canopies and vestibules under construction.
The airport also plans to replace its commercial financing and bond anticipation notes with authorization for about $2 billion, as well as about $950 million in new commercial financing, Richardson said.
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