Atlanta airport’s ‘ambitious’ expansion project enters next phase

The quest to make one of the tightest areas for travelers at the world's busiest airport into a modernized, more efficient, and pleasant experience has marked a key milestone.

The widening of Concourse D—considered one of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's most ambitious expansion projects to date—began its second phase overnight by affixing another prefabricated section of the concourse to the narrow one that’s been in service for more than 40 years.

Launched in September 2023, the expansion project is using a unique building technique with prefabricated modules to modernize and widen the concourse while not disrupting operations for thousands of passengers who shuffle through per day.

Today, Concourse D is the airport’s narrowest and is “dramatically undersized,” with a circulation corridor between seating areas that's just 18-feet wide, airport officials have said.

To expand the concourse while keeping it open, 19 modules are being built at a 6-acre modular construction lot adjacent to the airport, and then installed individually during quieter nighttime hours.

Between Tuesday night and this morning, a section known as Module 6 was transported from the modular yard and attached to Concourse D, marking the start of five-module phase two.

Concourse D was opened in 1980 at ATL’s Domestic Terminal as one of five original concourses.

The expansion will create what’s effectively a new concourse that allows the airport to meet future capacity demands, project leaders have said.

Airport officials say the concourse overhaul, once complete, will increase seating by 1,000 seats (up to 6,400) with hold rooms at twice their original size. It will expand the concourse width by 29 feet and ceiling height by 18 feet, allowing for more larger-capacity jets and boosting restrooms to twice their original size.   

All told, the modernized Concourse D will have 75 percent more square footage for passenger boarding, according to project officials.

The concourse will expand from 60-feet wide today to nearly 100 feet overall.

Four more prefabricated modules are set to be moved into place by the end of this month. But according to airport officials, the project won’t be finished for more than three years, with an expected opening in summer 2029.

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