September 21, 1980- Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport opens a massive Midfield terminal

Posted by AlbertJBundy@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 12 comments

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chrisirmo@reddit

I’m curious to know more about this exclusive tunnel between B and C.

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It was a tunnel between the northern half of B and C so Eastern passengers didn’t have to go all the way to the middle of B (which EA only occupied half of, DL got southern half) to transfer to flights in C. After Eastern died it wasn’t used/advertised much with poor signage but still useable to passengers. About 20 years ago it was repurposed for moving bags or something and is no longer accessible to public.

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jimbobzz9@reddit

My understanding is that plan never panned out (due to code or something like cost to add the needed fire suppression for cargo use) and that it is now used for nothing.

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Sea-Collection8292@reddit

It’s still there, you can see the roofing near the ground for where the escalators were. It’s now used as a baggage transfer station for delta flights. They put in a conveyor system, I remember it being open in the late 90s and very early 2000s

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Fun_Toe_5365@reddit

It’s still the world’s largest airport that feels like a bus station

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Boeing367-80@reddit

It was remarkable that they built exactly the right airport for the deregulated era. The new terminal opened in 1980, and US deregulation happened Jan 1979.

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geekwonk@reddit

never really thought about what the era before COMPUTERIZED BAGGAGE would have been like. my first instinct is that it would have been even worse, relying on human eyesight and handwriting, but computerization is so often used to hide cost cutting, so maybe more care went into each part of the process? i never rode a plane until well into the computerized era.

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us1087@reddit

Wow. Eastern Airlines sounds like an amazing airline that will be dominate in the US for decades to come!

Can’t wait to fly the to Philadelphia or….Sarasota!?

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