Airports are busy places. And when you’ve consistently been the busiest airport in the world since 1998 (well, except for that hot minute in 2020), well, that means you’re host to a whole lot of people (we’re talking over 100 million passengers in 2023 alone).
Of course, an airport is more than just passengers and “their people.” There are plenty of folks who are at airports because of work or related business. Unfortunately, because airports are public buildings, there are often people who really have no need to be at the airport; they’re just there because they can be. And sometimes that causes problems.
Case in point, since 2018, ATL has had a policy to limit access to the facility between 11 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. That was originally put into place to prevent homeless people from sleeping in the domestic terminal. The policy was codified into law in 2021.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that officials wanted to go a step further and expand the hours of restricted access to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Why? Loitering.
Loitering is a big problem at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. For example, stolen bags from baggage claim and unauthorized drivers soliciting passengers.
So, in an attempt to limit the issues, The Atlanta City Council transportation committee voted last week to change the loitering ordinance so it extends beyond just 11pm to 4:30am.
“We’re going to have 24/7 where we restrict access to the airport to ticketed passengers, those meeting or greeting passengers, those who are employed and those others having ability to do business at the airport,” said, Michael Smith, the airport’s Assistant General Manager of the Aviation Department.
The next step was for the measure to go to the full council for a final vote. According to local news agency 11 Alive, that happened on Monday, February 19, and it passed via unanimous vote. No word on when the new restrictions will be put into place.
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6 comments
Do you foresee this inconveniencing anyone other than the people it’s intended to eliminate? Who just hangs around an airport terminal landside?
Before 9/11, people used to be able to even go airside to watch planes, shop, meet passengers at their arrival gate, etc. But now? Yeah, I doubt this would exclude many people who have other-than-nefarious reasons for being there. Though I’m not sure how they’re going to enforce this against people saying they’re there to meet at arriving passenger.
Thanks for bringing up a very interesting topic. What should be of interest as well is can this law be practically enforced?
It’ll be interesting to see how this is enforced. Seems pretty easy to say that you’re meeting or greeting arriving passengers, and tough to disprove.
Maybe they should do something about the homeless hanging around the terminals!!!
From what I read during my research for this piece, they have…for years. But just like any large- and middle-sized city, it’s not as easy as someone (who has a home) saying, “They ought to do something about the homeless situation!”