When people think of Atlanta, GA, they most likely think initially of the world-famous Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) as it is by any measurement the busiest aviation center in the entire world (by passenger travel, number of takeoffs and arrivals, and in total revenue earned via flights) dealing with almost 90 million annual passengers. As a major Southern U.S. hub for the rest of the country, most connecting flights and many international flights will come through ATL before arriving at their final destination, as the international destinations are very generous (from areas across North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Asia, and Africa) which earns ATL a seventh-place ranking in terms of international gateways.
Established as Candler Field in 1925, ATL was an abandoned car racetrack before being used as a runway for plane takeoffs and landings. By 1928 both Eastern Air Lines and Delta Air Lines began offering service to Atlanta through the Candler Field (and both airlines would go on to use ATL as their main hub airport in the distant future). By the 1930's, Atlanta was already the world's third biggest flight destination (behind New York City and Chicago) and after the 2nd World War Candler Field renamed itself Atlanta Municipal Airport to glean some of the city's popularity into the aviation center as a whole. By the early 1960s ATL was ready to expand as the 6 million passengers a year was becoming too much of a strain, yet even after expansion was completed the aviation terminal was overstretched with more than 9 million passengers. A few decades and $500 million later in expansion efforts, the Atlanta International Airport was opened on September 21, 1980. Today, ATL gets its hyphenated nomenclature ("Hartsfield-Jackson") by two of the city's most influential mayors, who serve as a symbol for the prosperity that ATL continues to provide for the city, and the state as a whole