Atlanta

Delta signs new lease ushering in big changes for Hartsfield-Jackson

A major multi-year deal is set that will keep Delta Air Lines headquartered in Atlanta for decades. The deal includes $6 billion in spending to expand and improve Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

ATLANTA — A major multi-year deal is set that will keep Delta Air Lines headquartered in Atlanta for decades.

The deal includes $6 billion in spending to expand and improve Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Delta's CEO Richard Anderson signed the 20-year lease just days before Anderson is to retire as head of the company.

Both said the lease guarantees jobs and economic growth for decades at the world’s busiest airport

The new lease sets new operating rents and fees that will underwrite financing for a wave of upgrades and expansions planned, including new parking decks, remodeled terminals and a new international gate concourse.

Delta is Atlanta’s largest employer with 30,000 workers at the airport.

“I think it’s fair to characterize the last nine years at Delta as one of the most remarkable transformations of any organization in the history of corporations in America. It’s really a tribute to the people” of Delta, Anderson said.

Reed said this agreement should stop any talk of building a new airport in metro Atlanta.

"When people start talking about another airport, show me who does a better job than we have. We are the best in the world at it," Reed said.

Reed said he and Anderson worked 2 years on the contract.

He said over time, they developed a relationship, one that he will miss, when Anderson retires May 2 and moves to Texas.

“When history catches its breath, his name will be right among folks like Mills Lane, Robert Woodruff, Robert Goizueta, Ted Turner and others,” Reed said.

More than 100 million people traveled through Hartsfield-Jackson last year.

The airport produces more than $50 billion a year in revenue for metro Atlanta.

The new contract with Delta begins July 1.