Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

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Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
(Sea-Tac Airport)
IATA: SEA - ICAO: KSEA
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Port of Seattle
Serves Seattle, Washington
Elevation AMSL 433 ft (132 m)
Coordinates 47°26′56.4″N, 122°18′33.5″W
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
16L/34R 11,901 3,627 Asphalt
16C/34C 9,426 2,873 Concrete
Statistics (2006)
Number of Passengers 29,979,097
Aircraft Movements 340,058

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (IATA: SEA, ICAO: KSEA), also known as Sea-Tac Airport, is located in SeaTac, Washington, United States at the intersections of Washington State Route 518, Washington State Route 99 and Washington State Route 509. It is located about 1.5 miles from Interstate 5. It serves Seattle, Washington and Tacoma, Washington as well as the Seattle metropolitan area and western Washington state. The airport is a hub for Alaska Airlines, whose headquarters is located near the airport, and its regional subsidiary Horizon Air. The airport has service to many destinations throughout North America, Europe and East Asia. It is also an international gateway for Northwest Airlines.

The airport has public Wi-Fi available, provided by Wayport.

"Welcome to Sea-Tac!" is said in an automated announcement in the airport's parking garage and skyways, in reference to the nickname that locals of the Seattle metropolitan area have given it. The name came before the city of SeaTac, Washington was founded.

In 2005, Sea-Tac served 29 million passengers making it the 17th busiest airport in the United States and 30th busiest in the world. It ranks 29th in total aircraft operations and 20th in total cargo volume.

Contents

[edit] History

Seattle-Tacoma Airport was constructed by the Port of Seattle in 1944 to serve civilians of the region, after the U.S. military took control of Boeing Field for use in World War II. The Port received $1 million from the Civil Aeronautics Administration to build the airport, and $100,000 from the City of Tacoma. Commercial use of the airport began after the war ended, with the first scheduled flights occurring in 1947. Two years later, the word International was added to the airport's name as Northwest Airlines began direct service to Tokyo. The runway was lengthened twice, first in 1959 to allow use by jets, and again in 1961 to handle increased traffic for the upcoming Century 21 World's Fair. In 1966 SAS opened the airports first non stop route to Europe. The Port embarked on a major expansion plan from 1967 to 1973, adding a second runway, a parking garage, two satellite terminals, and other improvements to the airport.

Sea-Tac Airport from the air with the SR 509 freeway to the west and the SR 518 freeway to the north
Sea-Tac Airport from the air with the SR 509 freeway to the west and the SR 518 freeway to the north

Numerous residents of the surrounding area filed lawsuits against the Port in the early 1970s, complaining of noise, vibration, smoke, and other problems caused by the airport. The Port, together with the government of King County, adopted the Sea-Tac Communities Plan in 1976 to address the airport's impact on the area and guide its future development. The Port spent more than $100 million over the next decade to buy out homes and school buildings in the immediate vicinity, and soundproof others nearby.

In 1978, the U.S. ended airline regulation. Subsequently, U.S. airlines were allowed to determine routes and fares without government approval. Deregulation resulted in new service to Seattle, including TWA, which was the fourth largest U.S. airline, but did not serve Seattle.

FAA diagram of Sea-Tac Airport
FAA diagram of Sea-Tac Airport

After the death of U.S. Senator "Scoop" Jackson in 1983, the Seattle Port Commission voted to change the name of the airport to Henry M. Jackson International Airport, ostensibly to honor the late Senator. However, denizens of Tacoma interpreted the name change as an insult to their community —the second time in the airport's history that the port authorities had attempted to "erase" Tacoma from the map. But the $100,000 that Tacoma had provided for the airport's construction during World War II had come with an explicit promise that the city would be included in the airport's name. The City of Tacoma eventually prevailed in their attempt to return the long-standing moniker, and the name reverted to Sea-Tac early in 1984. [1]

In the mid 1980s Sea-Tac participated in the airport noise compatibility program initiated by Congress in 1979. Airport noise contours were developed, real estate was purchased and some homes were retrofitted to achieve noise mitigation. Starting in the late 1980s, the Port of Seattle and a council representing local county governments considered the future of air traffic in the region and predicted that Sea-Tac Airport could reach capacity by 2000. The planning committee concluded in 1992 that the best solution was to add a third runway to Sea-Tac and construct a supplemental two-runway airport in one of the neighboring counties. Members of the community strongly opposed a third runway, as did Highline School District and the cities of Des Moines, Burien, Federal Way, Tukwila, and Normandy Park, but a 1994 study concluded there were no feasible sites for an additional airport. The Port of Seattle approved a plan for the new runway in 1996, prompting a lawsuit from opponents. The Port secured the necessary permits by agreeing to noise reduction programs and environmental protections. Runway opponents appealed these permits, but dropped their challenges in 2004. In the end, opposition to the runway caused hundreds of millions of dollars in extra costs due to litigation but nothing was accomplished other than to raise the cost of operating the airport. [1] The runway is currently under construction, and is scheduled for completion in 2008 at a cost of $1.1 billion. This runway is one of the most expensive runways ever constructed in the world because of delays, legal and consulting fees. It also represents the tremendous inefficiencies of the region in taking over twenty years and spending hundreds of millions of dollars in costs unrelated to the actual construction costs. A project recently completed is the Central Terminal that contains the Pacific Marketplace, a retail and dining area of the airport.

Lately, there have been some problems with airplanes landing on Taxiway Tango, mistaking it for one of the runways. A large X has been placed at the north end of the taxiway to prevent the planes mistaking it with a runway[2].

[edit] Lack of competitiveness leading to lost airline service opportunities

In 2003, Lufthansa sought to introduce a new route to the Pacific Northwest. Although Seattle had immense advantages including a larger population and business base as well as excellent connecting airline service by Star Alliance partner, United Airlines, Portland International Airport was chosen instead. It is believed that the high costs of operating at the airport in Seattle resulted in the lost route opportunity. [2] [3]

Later, Mexicana sought to increase service to the region but chose Portland, even though the Mexican community and business community is larger in Seattle than Portland. [4]

Port of Seattle Commission President John Creighton said the Port of Seattle is also working to land nonstop service between Seattle and Beijing or Shanghai and Seattle and Mexico City. After the E.U. and U.S. signed the open skies agreement, airlines such as Aer Lingus and bmi, among others have shown interest in starting service to Seattle. [5]

[edit] Southwest Airlines controversy

Citing increased landing fees and other costs due to the aforementioned work at the airport, Southwest Airlines threatened in 2005 to move to nearby Boeing Field. This plan, however, ran into several problems. First, because Boeing Field is a public airport and each airline would have to have been offered equal access, this would have required more capacity than available on the airport's single runway suitable for large commercial airplanes. (Boeing Field has a parallel, smaller runway used by general-aviation airplanes.) Major renovations to the airport would have been required to alleviate this problem. While Southwest did indicate willingness to pay for upgrades to the airport, there were also problems with the transportation infrastructure around Boeing Field, which was not designed to handle traffic in and out of a major passenger airport. It eventually became clear that Southwest Airlines would not fund the necessary transportation improvements, and the plan was shot down by King County Executive Ron Sims. [3] Furthermore, there were concerns that the high costs of operating the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport would be increased even further if some airline service were moved to Boeing Field, which was expected to be less expensive to operate for the airlines.

[edit] Christmas tree controversy

On December 9, 2006, a controversy arose over the airport's display of Christmas trees, which the Port of Seattle officially called "holiday trees" in all public statements. Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky of Northwest Friends of Chabad-Lubavitch requested that he be permitted to install a chanukkiyah in addition to the trees. Talks were unproductive. The rabbi's attorney, Harvey Grad, sent a legal document to the port. Fearing a lawsuit, the airport took 14 Christmas trees down. This attracted international media attention. After Rabbi Bogomilsky and other Jewish leaders stated that they had no intention of suing the Port of Seattle, the port reinstalled the trees on the night of December 11, 2006.[4] [5]

[edit] Incidents and accidents

[edit] Terminals, airlines, and destinations

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has a Central Terminal building with four concourses (A - D) and two Satellite Terminals (North and South). The satellite terminals are connected to the central terminal by an underground people mover system. There are three security checkpoints for the entire airport. Once through security, passengers have access to all gates.

[edit] Central Terminal

[edit] Concourse A

Concourse A has 14 Gates: A1 - A14

Note: International Arrivals are handled in the South Satellite Terminal.

[edit] Concourse B

Concourse B has 11 Gates: B3, B5 - B12, B14, B15

Note: International Arrivals are handled in the South Satellite Terminal.

  • Alaska Airlines
    • Horizon Air Gate B3 (Bellingham, Billings, Boise, Bozeman, Butte, Calgary, Edmonton, Eugene, Fresno, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Kamloops [seasonal], Kelowna, Lewiston, Medford, Missoula, Pasco, Portland (OR), Pullman, Redmond, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Spokane, Sun Valley, Vancouver, Victoria, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima)
  • Continental Airlines Gates B9, B11, B15 (Anchorage, Cleveland [seasonal], Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
  • Hawaiian Airlines Gates B5, B7 (Honolulu, Kahului)
  • Southwest Airlines Gates B6, B8, B10, B12, B14 (Albuquerque, Boise, Chicago-Midway, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville, Oakland, Phoenix, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Jose (CA), Spokane)

[edit] Concourse C

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700 jetarriving to the C Concourse
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700 jet
arriving to the C Concourse

Concourse C has 24 Gates: C2A - C2M, C3, C9 - C12, C14 - C18, C20

Note: International Arrivals are handled in the South Satellite Terminal.

  • Alaska Airlines Gates C9, C11, C12, C14 - C18, C20
    • Domestic and Transborder: (Anchorage, Boise, Boston, Burbank, Calgary, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Oakland, Ontario (CA), Orange County, Orlando, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), Sitka [seasonal], Spokane, Tucson, Vancouver, Washington-Reagan)
    • International: (Cancún [seasonal], Los Cabos [seasonal], Mazatlan [seasonal], Puerto Vallarta [seasonal])
    • Horizon Air Gates C2A - C2M, C10, C12 (See Concourse B)

[edit] Concourse D

Concourse D has 11 Gates: D1 - D11

[edit] North Satellite Terminal

The North Satellite Terminal has 14 Gates: N1 - N3, N6 - N16

Note: International Arrivals are handled in the South Satellite Terminal.

[edit] South Satellite Terminal (International)

The South Satellite Terminal has 17 Gates: S1 - S12, S15, S16A - S16D

Note: All international arrivals (except flights from cities with customs preclearance) and the following departures are handled in the South Satellite Terminal:

[edit] Ground transportation and access

The airport is served both by King County's Metro Transit bus system and Sound Transit regional express buses. The Central Link light rail line connecting SeaTac to downtown Seattle is scheduled for completion in December 2009. Taxis, rental cars and door-to-door shuttle service are available. Free parking for the first 30 minutes used to be available but this was discontinued in the mid 1990s.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2003/06/23/daily22.html
  2. ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2003/12/08/focus9.html?t=printable
  3. ^ http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/p2003/press_092203d.shtml
  4. ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2003/12/08/focus9.html?t=printable
  5. ^ http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=france210&date=20070221&query=New+Service+To+Paris
  6. ^ Flight International 12-18 December 2006
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