Fairbanks International Airport (IATA: FAI, ICAO: PAFA, FAA LID: FAI) is a state-owned public-use airport located three miles (5 km) southwest of the central business district of Fairbanks, a city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska.
The airport serves many cargo airlines as a convenient refueling stop for some aircraft on trans-polar routes. FAI is served by a limited number of passenger airlines. Ravn Alaska and Alaska Airlines serve the airport year-round, while Delta Air Lines and recently United Airlines serve FAI during the summer. Fairbanks is the smallest city in the United States with non-stop service to Europe, as Condor Airlines offers weekly flights to Frankfurt during the summer tourist season.
On October 11, 2009, the airport constructed a new terminal and demolished the old terminal which was built in 1948. The new terminal is built around the modern TSA standards. In addition to architectural design and better security, the main terminal now has six jet-bridges (up from the former five). The 2,700m2 of custom unitised curtain wall was designed and supplied by Overgaard Ltd. Hong Kong. The special design incorporated double low-e triple glazing. The new building's footprint is smaller than the old building, and it no longer has the museum exhibits in the lobby.
History
The airport opened in 1951 and took over existing scheduled airline traffic to Fairbanks, which had previously used Ladd Air Force Base. Alaska Airlines used Fairbanks as its main hub in the 1950s, with service to Seattle and Portland as well as intrastate service to Anchorage, Nome and other destinations. By 1967, however, the airline shifted its Alaska hub to Anchorage; its Anchorage-Fairbanks service continues to this day. In the mid-1970s, following the development of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Alaska Airlines and Braniff International offered "interchange service" between Fairbanks and Houston via Anchorage, Seattle and Dallas. In 1982, following airline deregulation, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines began a similar interchange service using Boeing 727s.
Pan American World Airways had also served Fairbanks since 1932. The station was originally opened after the acquisition of Pacific International Airways and used for short-haul services to Juneau, Seattle, Ketchikan, Whitehorse and other destinations. Pan Am intended to use Fairbanks as a stop for service to Asia as early as 1931, but initial difficulty in negotiating landing rights with the Soviet Union, followed by the outbreak of World War II, delayed these plans until decades later. Pan Am service to Fairbanks continued through the opening of FAI until 1965, when the Civil Aeronautics Board terminated Pan Am's rights to serve Alaska.
Pan Am eventually used Fairbanks as a stopover for transpacific service from New York and Seattle to Tokyo starting in September 1969. In 1974, Pan Am agreed to transfer its Fairbanks-Seattle service to Western Airlines, and requested that the CAB allow its New York-Tokyo service to be suspended from April 1975. Other carriers such as Japan Airlines and Korean Air began to use Fairbanks as a technical stop for transpacific cargo flights in the late 1970s.
Facilities and aircraft
Fairbanks International Airport covers an area of 3,470 acres (1,404 ha) at an elevation of 439 feet (134 m) above mean sea level. It has four runways:
- Runway 2L/20R: 11,800 by 150 feet (3,597 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt
- Runway 2R/20L: 6,501 by 100 feet (1,981 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt
- Runway 2/20: 2,900 by 75 feet (884 x 23 m), Surface: Gravel/Ski Strip
- Runway 2W/20W: 5,400 by 100 feet (1,646 x 30 m), Surface: Water/Winter Ski Strip
For the 12-month period ending January 1, 2010, the airport had 133,267 aircraft operations, an average of 365 per day: 68% general aviation, 18% air taxi, 13% scheduled commercial, and 2% military. At that time there were 382 aircraft based at this airport: 83% single-engine, 17% multi-engine, and <1% helicopter.
Terminal building
The terminal building, situated on the southwest side of the airport, contains seven gates: two for commuter carriers and five for larger carriers.
Passenger airlines and destinations
The following airlines offer scheduled passenger service:
Top destinations
Cargo airlines
- Air Cargo Express
- Air Central Express
- Air North
- Alaska Central Express
- Everts Air Cargo
- FedEx Express
- 40-Mile Air
- Northern Air Cargo
- Servant Air
- Tanana Air Service
- Tatonduk Flying Service
- Wright Air Service
Charter airlines
- Evert's Air Alaska
- Japan Airlines
- Larry's Flying Service
- TEMSCO Helicopters, Arctic Division
- Thomas Cook Airlines
- Warbelow's Air Ventures
Climate
Climate data recorded at Fairbanks International Airport in Fairbanks, Alaska:
Accidents and incidents
In September 2013 there were two incidents of vehicular trespass onto its taxiway and runways, by users unknowingly following Apple Map's errant directions to Fairbanks International Airport. No one were injured or any flights were delayed. The Airport has since complained to Apple Inc, through the local attorney office and erected barricades along the final stretch of the runway to prevent future occurrences.
References
External links
- Fairbanks International Airport (official web site)
- FAI Terminal Area Development Project
- FAA Alaska airport map (GIF)
- FAA Alaska airport diagram (GIF)
- FAA Airport Diagram for Fairbanks International (PDF), effective April 2, 2015
- FAA Terminal Procedures for Fairbanks International, effective April 2, 2015
- Resources for this airport:
- FAA airport information for FAI
- AirNav airport information for PAFA
- ASN accident history for FAI
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations for PAFA
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for FAI
- Check current FAA delays for this airport
Interesting Informations
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