Delta Air Lines navigates post-holiday rush with precision at Atlanta hub

ATLANTA - With the post-holiday travel rush underway, Delta Air Lines crews at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are running full throttle, bringing the airlines’ complex puzzle of a schedule to life each day.

Delta serves about 40 million passengers a year at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It is a gigantic round-the-clock operation to keep planes and passengers moving.

Delta ground crews say they usually have just about an hour to turn around most domestic planes.

That clock starts ticking for Ryan Vizcarra, a Delta Aircraft Lead Agent at ATL, the moment a plane parks at a gate. Vizcarra is part of a massive ground crew team that turns hundreds of planes a day.

"It’s magic, we make it happen," he said. "There’s like a routine that we go through, and everyone knows the routine."

Delta Air Lines crews work to serve 40 million passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in its round-the-clock operation at the world’s busiest airport and its central hub. (FOX 5)

With just a matter of minutes to work, the plane gets refueled, and all the cargo swapped out. Delta says it has handled nearly 30 million bags this year in Atlanta.

"Is it like organized chaos to get a plane out on time," FOX 5 asked.

"Organized chaos is perfectly stated, you have a lot to do in under an hour," Justin High, a Delta Aircraft Lead Agent responded. "You have to do it safely; you have to do it clean and on time."

While the crew works below the wing to get the plane ready to fly to New York, it is also a race on board. Cleaners and caters swoop in once the last passengers are off the plane. Flight attendants then get their galleys ready and do safety checks before passengers come down the jet bridge.

Watching the entire process is a team on the other side of the airport who make sure every aspect of ‘turning’ a plane happens as scheduled. The Delta facility, which is staffed 24/7, monitors the roughly 150 gates the airline operates in Atlanta and the more than 1,500 daily departures and arrivals.

"We’re ready for anything all the time," one of the staffers said.

Delta Air Lines crews work to serve 40 million passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in its round-the-clock operation at the world’s busiest airport and its central hub. (FOX 5)

Back at the gate, Delta Red Coat Oumie Ceesay is helping customers on the concourse. While Ceesay and fellow gate agents wait for the green light to board passengers for the flight to JFK, they are helping solve any last-minute customer issues.

"The key point of taking care of people is listening to their problems," she said.

With the plane clean and flight attendants ready, boarding begins right on time and passengers make their way down the jet bridge to their seats.

"Do you feel the pressure around the holidays when you have so many people traveling to make sure the plane gets off on time," FOX 5 asked High.

Delta Air Lines crews work to serve 40 million passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in its round-the-clock operation at the world’s busiest airport and its central hub. (FOX 5)

"Yes, you do feel the pressure a little bit more because you're doing the same amount of work with more people flying and more cargo moving," he said.

A busy time of year for airline crews above and below the wing, each one a small part of one giant puzzle to make the operation come together even amid challenges like weather and maintenance.

"Reservations, the front-line agents, the gate agents, the flight attendants, the ramp is all together to make it the big picture," Ceesay said.