The world’s busiest airport is about to get a lot busier.

Officials at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport estimate that about 370,000 passengers per day will pass through the facility in the next week or so as the summer travel season kicks into high gear. About 250,000 passengers a day use Hartsfield-Jackson on an average day.

“There are a lot of people and a lot more volume, so it’s very important that people give themselves some extra time to avoid problems,” said airport spokesman Herschel Grangent.

Nationally, about 209 million people are expected to take to the skies between June 1 and Aug. 31, said David Castelveter, president of the Air Transport Association, the major airlines’ trade group.

“That’s a record,” Castelveter said. “We’re looking at fuller planes and more planes in the sky.”

That translates to more people crowding airports like Hartsfield-Jackson and more hassles if they don’t do some serious planning ahead of time.

Grangent said anyone flying out of Hartsfield-Jackson should check the airport’s Web site (atlanta-airport.com) for information on parking availability and security checkpoint times before they leave home. He also suggested they visit the Transportation Security Administration web site (tsa.gov) for a list of prohibited items.

Officials are also urging leisure travelers to book travel — if possible — for “non-peak” times. Crowds at large airports vary widely depending on the day and hour of travel.

Hartsfield-Jackson usually experiences its biggest crowds in the morning, from 7 to 9 a.m., Grangent said. The busiest afternoon times are between 4 and 7 p.m.

“It’s a good idea to try and book your travel during the mid-morning through the early afternoon and the evening,” Grangent said. “Monday through Thursday are usually the lightest travel days.

Wait times at the security checkpoints can vary widely depending on the hour.

On Friday — the week’s busiest travel day as business’ road warriors return and vacationers depart — security wait times were 20 minutes at 8:40 a.m., but had dropped to 9 minutes just an hour later, Grangent said. But by 1:30 p.m., they had soared to 40 minutes.

The airport and TSA try to keep wait times to an average of 15 minutes or less.

information from : www.ajc.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 4:18 am and is filed under Real Estate, Travel. Tags: airline At Large Atlanta International Airport Leisure leisure travel trade group Transportation Security Administration Travel . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.