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By the time Charlotte Douglas was completed, Atlanta had been operating its airport for nearly a decade. Charlotte aspired to the notoriety of Atlanta's airport, but through careful planning and gradual implementation avoided waste, building only when the demographics compelled expansion. Despite setbacks for both airports, Charlotte's story is special based on the implementation of such a "big" airport in such a relatively small city. It is also important to note Atlanta invested heavily in new facilities circa 1960 while Charlotte's major investment didn't happen until nearly 1980.

Note: Metropolitan population statistics would have been preferable here. However, Metropolitan areas were not recorded by the census until the 1980's in these regions. Therefore, the county populations were substituted to illustrate the population of the cities and surrounding areas with greater accuracy.

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