Hey, good afternoon and welcome to Hartsfield
Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
My name is Andrew Boheel.
I am the Senior Director of Corporate
Communications and Media Affairs.
And thank you very much for coming
on out as we offer our updates for
the upcoming Labor Day travel period.
It's rather unique in that we are
dealing also with severe weather just
to the South and east of us right now.
A quick update on where we stand with
that obviously is all of your forecasters
are saying we certainly don't expect to
see any weather impacts here at a TL,
but there will be impacts to
the national airspace.
So we're going to remind our
passengers and our guests once
again to follow us on social media,
check out our website and follow their
airline social media as well for
the latest updates and information.
At this point,
we've seen about 110 to 115 cancellations
and delays across the country,
excuse me,
here in Atlanta that have been
impacted by the storms.
We expect that that will probably
increase a bit as the day progresses.
So we'll monitor the storm.
We ask you and we ask all of our
passengers to do the same.
We are here to talk a little bit
about the upcoming Labor Day holiday,
but we do want to remind you that in
the weeks after the Labor Day holiday
and for all intents and purposes in
the years after the Labor Day holiday,
we are in the midst of a substantial
South parking deck campaign.
Ultimately,
we will have a new seven story
parking deck which is going to offer
more than 7000 parking spaces,
which is going to be fantastic,
but there may be some growing pains
over the next few months as we are
undergoing construction there.
We are going to embark on a very
robust communications plan to make
sure that you're included in helping
us tell the story of that parking
campaign and how that's going to
impact all of our passengers and
all of our guests.
So we expect to see you guys back
here in the weeks ahead as we invite
you to talk about what that means
for the airport as we make this a
much more efficient facility even
though we aren't considered the
most efficient airport in the world.
Now on to the matters at hand,
if I may,
I would like to introduce our new
Assistant General Manager for Operations,
who's going to talk a little bit
about what is going on here at a
TL over the next few days. Mr.
Jordan Baedler.
All right, good morning, everybody.
Thank you, Andy.
And on behalf of our General Manager, Mr.
Balram Viadari and the entire airport team,
I want to thank you for coming out
and joining us at this the kickoff for
our label Labor Day travel season.
It's great to have you all out here with
us so the busy travel season starts
in earnest on Thursday and the world's
busiest and most efficient airports
is ready to serve you and our guests.
So we greatly appreciate our
partnership with the Transportation
Security Administration.
Together we will assist hundreds
of thousands of passengers through
security screening in the coming days.
So from Thursday,
August 31st through Tuesday,
September 5th,
more than 1.6 million passengers are
expected to travel through a TL and
it takes all of us to ensure that
your travel is safe and efficient.
Our peak travel days are projected
to be Thursday,
August 31st with almost 310,000 passengers,
Friday, September 1st,
our busiest projected day with
330,000 passengers and Monday,
September 4th with over 300,000
passengers expected.
So as you probably noticed,
Hartsfield Jackson is undergoing a
massive renovation and construction
and expansion program as part of
our multibillion dollar capital
improvement project called a TL Next.
I'm glad to report that there will
be no public facing construction
during the holiday period.
However,
we encourage travelers to arrive
early for their flights,
so we I encourage travelers to get
here at least two hours early for
domestic flights and three hours in
advance for international flights.
We also advise passengers to regularly
check our website atl.com for
updates on parking, TSA wait times,
and the status of our concessions
throughout the airport.
And a TL of course has an incredible
array of dining and shopping options.
Awardwinning dining and shopping
options to try while you
wait for your flights to board, if
you're traveling or if you're
not traveling but plan to pick
up family or friends at a TL,
take advantage of our cell phone
waiting lot or are on airport
parking facilities which are
free for the 1st 30 minutes.
So if or you can wait for
your party to come to you and
avoid the the arrival curbside entirely,
just park in the ATLW deck and tell
your party to take the sky train
to meet you again at the ATLW deck.
While you're here, be vigilant.
911 calls made at the airport go directly to
our centralized command and Control Center,
which allows us to respond quickly
to any incidents at the airport.
And finally remember if you see something,
say something.
Security is everyone's business here at a TL.
So with that, I would like to introduce
our Federal Security Director, Mr.
Robert Spindon.
Thank you, Jordan. Good afternoon.
The Transportation Security
Administration expects to screen almost
450,000 passengers here in Atlanta
during the Labor Day weekend from
August 31st through September 5th.
We expect the busiest day to be Friday,
September 1st with nearly 94,000 travelers
transiting our security checkpoints.
We're prepared for the busy days ahead,
and we are working closely with our
airline and airport partners to make
sure we are maintaining our wait
time standards of 30 minutes or less
in standard lanes and 10 minutes
or less in TSA Precheck lanes.
There are occasions where wait
times may be longer,
so we encourage passengers to arrive early,
pack your patience and reach out to us
before arriving to the airport if you
have any questions about our security
procedures or have any questions
about items that you may bring.
So far this calendar year,
TSA officers in Atlanta have
screened over 17.6 million travelers,
making it our busiest year ever.
For context,
this year we screened nearly 500,000
more passengers than the next busiest year,
which was in 2019.
I applaud our frontline employees
who have done an excellent job
throughout the busy travel season
in facilitating secure travel
for millions of passengers,
all while we continue to deploy new
checkpoint technology that enhances security,
effectiveness,
efficiency and the passenger experience.
While the number of passengers we
have screened is up for the year,
so are the number of firearms we have
intercepted and carry on luggage.
That number as of this morning is at 200 and
88288 firearms and carry on luggage
all loaded that is up from 267 during
the same time period last year.
TSA is not anti gun.
We're pro security and you cannot travel
with your firearm and carry on luggage.
If you need to travel with your firearm,
it must be in your checked luggage,
it must be packaged in a specific way
and it must be declared to your airline.
In closing, I would highly encourage
anyone traveling to visit www.tsa.gov
which contains a significant amount of
important information you need to know
before you leave your home for the airport.
TSA also is active on Facebook,
Instagram and X to answer your questions,
which you can send via those
platforms to ask TSA.
Next, I would like to introduce
Major Kelly Collier of the
Atlanta Police Department.
Thank you.
Thank you, Robert.
Good afternoon. I'm Major Collier,
the commander of the airport section
of the Atlanta Police Department.
I want to first start out by thanking
all of the law enforcement officers that
you see for the awesome job they do.
All of our security professionals
and other professional staff out
here at the airport helping protect
the busiest airport in the world,
thus making us the safest airport
in the world.
Today I stand before you to
discuss a very important matter
and that's airport safety.
The safety and security
of all of our customers,
passengers and the entire airport
community are are our top priorities and
it's crucial that we work together to
ensure a safe and secure environment.
Labor Day travel plays a large
role in our modern world.
It connects people and businesses,
cross borders,
airports are dynamic and busy places.
It is essential that we remain vigilant
and proactive in our approach to safety.
Everyone has a role in maintaining a
secure airport environment and everyone
must work together to achieve this goal.
First and foremost,
let us recognize the importance
of effective communication.
Clear and concise communications the
foundation for a strong and safe culture.
It is vital that we encourage open
minds of communication by everyone.
By sharing information,
reporting suspicious activity,
and cooperating with one another,
we can quickly identify potential threats and
take appropriate action to mitigate dinner.
Moreover, everyone must adhere
to all security protocols.
This includes,
but is not limited to our weapon laws,
restrictions and not leaving
your possessions behind.
And what I mean by that is when
a bag or an item is left behind,
we have to send an officer
out to investigate that item.
If the officer cannot determine
who the item belongs to,
we have to send out a K9 officer.
And so far this year,
beginning January the 1st,
we have responded to 4451
suspicious package calls.
While we encourage you to enjoy all of our
great shopping and awesome restaurants,
please know your limits when
consuming alcohol that is in the
airport and while aboard aircraft.
In closing,
let us commit ourselves to a
culture of safety where every
individual understands their role
and takes responsibility for their
well-being of themselves and others.
Together,
we can continue to move ATL forward.
This airport is not only a
gateway to the world,
but also a model of safety
and security for all.
Happy Labor Day and safe travels,
Andy.
So the bottom line, As we said,
utilize our communications channels.
Go to atl.com, follow our social media
for the latest and information atl.com
provides up to the date information,
up-to-the-minute information on
parking options, security wait times,
and of course, concessionaire options.
Follow your airline.
Make sure that you're in touch with them.
You've downloaded all of their apps so
that you can stay in contact with them.
Get to the airport at least two 2 1/2
hours prior to your domestic departure,
3 hours for your international departure.
And remember, if you have weapons,
make sure they are secured in your
checked baggage and you do not attempt to
carry them on because you will be taken.
And of course you're going to
tie up the line behind you,
so we want to make sure that
we maintain efficiency.
I'd like to thank our federal law
enforcement partners at the TSA,
local law enforcement partners with a
PD and of course it's our operations
teams under Jordan who make sure that
everything works safely and securely.
Have a wonderful weekend now,
maybe if you would like,
we'll set up for individual one
on ones just off to the side.
Thank you.