Clayton News Daily

It’s the world’s busiest airport, and getting busier all the time.

For the eighth month in a row, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport experienced an increase in passenger traffic, according to DeAllous Smith, a spokesman for Atlanta’s airport.

Smith said the airport recently announced that traffic in August was 5.31 percent higher than last year, with 8.36 million passengers traveling, compared to 7.94 million in 2010.

International passenger traffic also rose in August, he said, increasing by 9.87 percent over the same month in the previous year. Numerically, the numbers jumped from 878,302 international passengers, to 964,977, he said.

“It’s very encouraging to report eight consecutive months of rising passenger numbers for both domestic and international travel,” said Louis Miller aviation general manager at Hartsfield-Jackson. “We anticipate continued growth during 2011 as we focus our energies on being the global leader in airport efficiency and customer service.”

On another note, Smith said aircraft operations decreased by 2.75 percent, during the eighth-month period, from 638,944 to 621,377 operations. Aircraft operations include landings and takeoffs.

Most of this decrease is accounted for by airlines reducing their use of smaller regional aircraft, he said.

Smith said, on the contrary however, international aircraft operations rose by 11.4 percent, and air cargo numbers were up, too.

“Total air cargo for the first eight months increased by 2.15 percent, from 429,050 to 438,286 metric tons. International air cargo increased by 0.66 percent,” he added.