Hartsfield Airport

Atlanta, Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is one of the world's largest commercial service airports, serving over 300,000 people daily. This in itself requires added security due to its customers and the 2,400 flights that take off and land every day. (Craig C. Freudenrich, 1998-2007) Many of the flights arriving at the airport are domestic flights coming from within the United States where Atlanta serves as a major transfer point for flights to and from smaller cities.

Being the world's busiest airport, the managers have a large task at hand; from handling the security of the airport, to ensuring employee and customer satisfaction, all while coinciding with all federal regulations. According to the FAR Part 139.3 this airport must obtain its Airport Operating Certificate, which is delegated to the Associate Administrator for Airports, Director of Airport Safety and Standards, and Regional Airports Division Managers. Each certificate holder shall adopt and comply with an Airport Certification Manual as required under Ð'§139.203. This certificate is issued for operation of a Class I, II, III, or IV airport. Hartsfield-Jackson airport is classified as a Class I airport, which means that is certificated to serve scheduled operations of large air carrier aircraft that can also serve unscheduled passenger operations of large air carrier aircraft and/or scheduled operations of small air carrier aircraft. (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 2007)

Airport Manager: Duties

As a certificate holder, Hartsfield-Jackson airport must maintain different kinds of records as required in Subpart D of the FAR Part 139.301 Records.

(1) Personnel training. Twenty-four consecutive calendar months for personnel training records, as required under Ð'§Ð'§139.303 and 139.327.

(2) Emergency personnel training. Twenty-four consecutive calendar months for aircraft rescue and firefighting and emergency medical service personnel training records, as required under Ð'§139.319.

(3) Airport fueling agent inspection. Twelve consecutive calendar months for records of inspection of airport fueling agents, as required under Ð'§139.321.

(4) Fueling personnel training. Twelve consecutive calendar months for training records of fueling personnel, as required under Ð'§139.321.

(5) Self-inspection. Twelve consecutive calendar months for self-inspection records, as required under Ð'§139.327.

(6) Movement areas and safety areas training. Twenty-four consecutive calendar months for records of training given to pedestrians and ground vehicle operators with access to movement areas and safety areas, as required under Ð'§139.329.

(7) Accident and incident. Twelve consecutive calendar months for each accident or incident in movement areas and safety areas involving an air carrier aircraft and/or ground vehicle, as required under Ð'§139.329.

(8) Airport condition. Twelve consecutive calendar months for records of airport condition information dissemination, as required under Ð'§139.339.

Airport managers working for certificate holder airports must comply with an Airport Certification Manual. Their main responsibilities required under Ð'§139.303 are to provide sufficient and trained personnel; provide workers with adequate resources; train all employees who access movement areas and safety areas and perform duties in compliance with the requirements of the Airport Certification Manual. Initial training must be completed before the employees perform their jobs and recurrent training at least once every 12 consecutive calendar months. The following training is required for a certificate holder:

(1) Ð'§139.319, Aircraft rescue and firefighting: Operational requirements;

(2) Ð'§139.321, Handling and storage of hazardous substances and materials;

(3) Ð'§139.327, Self-inspection program;

(4) Ð'§139.329, Pedestrians and Ground Vehicles;

(5) Ð'§139.337, Wildlife hazard management; and

(6) Ð'§139.339, Airport condition reporting.

The airport manager works closely with federal and state aviation committees and department that generate rules and regulations for all aspects of airport business and security. Therefore, they must ensure that all aspects of the airport are functioning in accordance with the regulation or take the necessary actions to bring them into accord. (Livermore Management Corp., 2006) This could mean directly working with airport staff, management, administration or working with outside association to fulfill the requirements of the Airport Operation Certificate.

Airports not only are required to follow all FAA regulations, but also the regulation of other pertaining agencies