OREANDA-NEWS. April 29, 2014. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport received approval from the Atlanta City Council on Monday to establish an air service incentive program as a way to stimulate international air cargo and passenger growth. The program is projected to cost up to USD 2 million annually over the next five years.

“With this new incentive program, Hartsfield-Jackson will be better positioned to attract additional passenger and cargo carriers to Atlanta,” said Hartsfield-Jackson Interim General Manager Miguel Southwell. “As the world’s busiest airport, we are continually looking at ways to grow new routes and expand our cargo capacity, and this will certainly boost our global competitiveness.”

The purpose of the program is to stimulate air service, particularly along routes that link Atlanta to cities located in countries that have some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and air cargo traffic. The program comes at a time when air cargo and passenger traffic continues to increase worldwide.

The incentive program, which will begin this summer, will waive landing fees for one year for airlines starting new international routes not already served from Atlanta, as well as match up to 50 percent of promotional funds, capped at USD 25,000, for new passenger service and provide cargo carriers the opportunity to qualify for a waiver of aircraft parking fees at the Airport’s cargo areas.

Additional waivers and incentives, such as a two-year waiver of landing fees, will be offered to carriers starting service to one of the five major emerging economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China or South Africa—while carriers starting service to Africa, Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia will also receive extra consideration. Total fee waivers and promotional funds will be capped at \\$2 million a year on a first-come, first-served basis.

The incentive program is primarily designed to develop the Airport as a cargo and logistics hub. Current cargo carriers include: ABX, Air France-KLM, Asiana, British Airways, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, DHL Worldwide Express, Emirates SkyCargo (launched April 2014), EVA, FedEx, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways and UPS.