It had been a long time coming. The arrival of the Airbus A380 to ATL, that is. While other airports welcomed the A380 with opened runways and taxiways, ATL wasn’t ready or prepared for the arrival of the world’s largest passenger airplane.

The title of a 2005 article in AccessNorthGa summed it up: “Airbus A380 won’t be landing in Atlanta anytime soon”. During this time airport general manager, Ben DeCosta stated ATL is not approved to land the A380 and didn’t think the market could support the double-decker superjumbo. Furthermore, it would also cost millions of dollars to widen taxiways and install additional jetways to help offload passengers on this plane which can accommodate between 500-800. Back then airport spokeswoman Felicia Browder said, “It’s just not the time or place. That’s just the mind of the (airport’s) leadership right now.”

Fast forward to September 1, 2013. After a few cancelled…