ATL
Abbreviation with 5 meanings
| Stands for | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 5 |
| Categories | Transportation & Travel, Geography & Places, Government & Politics, Business & Finance |
ATL has five meanings. The most common are Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (airport code) and Atlanta (city and neighborhood); it can also stand for Attempt to locate, All-time low and Above the line.
Meanings of ATL at a glance
| # | ATL stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport | Transportation & Travel › Airport Code |
| 2 | Atlanta | Geography & Places › City and Neighborhood |
| 3 | Attempt to locate | Government & Politics › Police |
| 4 | All-time low | Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing |
| 5 | Above the line | Business & Finance › Marketing & Advertising |
1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Transportation & Travel · Airport Code Abbreviations
World's busiest airport by passenger numbers in almost every year since 1998, handling more than 100 million travelers annually. Located about 7 miles south of downtown Atlanta, it is the headquarters hub of Delta Air Lines, whose main offices sit beside the field.
Example: Connecting through ATL again; I've got 50 minutes to get from concourse T to E on the Plane Train.
ICAO code KATL. Named for two Atlanta mayors, William B. Hartsfield, an early aviation booster, and Maynard Jackson, the city's first Black mayor, whose name was added in 2003. Its parallel-concourse layout linked by an underground train has been widely copied. A long-running Southern joke holds that whether you go to heaven or hell, you will change planes in Atlanta. ATL is also a nickname for the city itself.
2. Atlanta
Geography & Places · City and Neighborhood Abbreviations
Capital of Georgia and economic center of the Southeast, whose airport code ATL is widely used as the city's nickname, especially in hip-hop. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International has been the world's busiest airport by passengers for most years since 1998.
Example: ATL traffic on the Connector moves at a crawl after 4 p.m.
Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics and is home to CNN, Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines. Locals also call the city the A.
3. Attempt to locate
Government & Politics · Police Abbreviations
Dispatch request for officers to look for a person or vehicle when there is no crime-related urgency, such as a welfare check on a missing adult, a possibly impaired driver or a runaway juvenile. It is less urgent than a BOLO.
Example: Units, ATL a blue minivan last seen northbound on Main, driver possibly diabetic and confused.
Usage varies by agency, and some dispatchers say "attempt to locate" in full. An ATL may be upgraded to a BOLO if the situation becomes more serious. Context distinguishes it from ATL, the airport code for Atlanta, and from ATL as a nickname for the city.
4. All-time low
Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations · also used in technology
Lowest price or level an asset or measure has ever reached since trading or recording began. The term appears in market news, crypto trading and economic data, such as record-low interest rates.
Example: The newly listed stock hit an ATL of $3.12, down 85 percent from its IPO price.
All-time lows are usually reached by struggling or recently listed securities, since established indices rarely revisit their starting levels. Outside finance, ATL is the IATA code for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
5. Above the line
Business & Finance · Marketing & Advertising Abbreviations
Mass-media advertising aimed at broad audiences, such as television, radio, print, cinema and billboards, used mainly to build brand awareness. Agencies traditionally earned commission on these media.
Example: The launch combines an ATL TV campaign with BTL sampling in supermarkets.
A commonly told origin story holds that Procter & Gamble's accountants in the 1950s drew a line separating commissionable media spending from other promotion costs. Digital channels blurred the categories, which is why "through the line" (TTL) campaigns combine both.
Related abbreviations
More airport code abbreviations
- AMS – Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
- ANC – Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
- ARN – Stockholm Arlanda Airport
- ATH – Athens International Airport
- AUA – Queen Beatrix International Airport
- AUH – Zayed International Airport
- AUS – Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
- BCN – Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport
See all 170 airport code abbreviations →