Jacksonville International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 30°29′39″N 081°41′16″W / 30.49417, -81.68778

Jacksonville International Airport

IATA: JAX – ICAO: KJAX – FAA: JAX
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Jacksonville Aviation Authority
Serves Jacksonville, Florida
Location Suburban
Elevation AMSL 30 ft / 9 m
Website www.JIA.aero
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
7/25 10,000 3,048 Concrete
13/31 7,701 2,347 Concrete
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 118,493
Passengers 6,319,016
Sources: FAA[1], airport website[2]

Jacksonville International Airport (IATA: JAX, ICAO: KJAX, FAA LID: JAX) is a public airport located nine miles (14 km) north of the central business district of Jacksonville, a city in Duval County, Florida, United States.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Construction of the airport started in 1965, in order for the city to accommodate a more cosmopolitan populace which was introduced with the sizable military base in the region. Jacksonville International was finally opened on October 31, 1968, replacing the antiquated Imeson Field.[3] A new idea tried in the construction of Jacksonville International was the separating of departing and arriving passengers on two different sides of the terminal (as can be seen in the photo on this page). This is no longer the case though and the airport (which has been greatly expanded since the picture was taken) now utilizes the typical configuration whereby departing passengers are served on an upper level, accessed via an elevated roadway, while arriving passengers utilize the lower level of the terminal.

Initially the airport was slow to expand, only serving two million passengers a year by 1982. However, the addition of more airline service in the late 1980s and early 1990s saw the need for more space in the complex. The airport served over five million passengers annually by 1999, and an airport expansion plan was approved in 2000. The first phase, which included rebuilding the landside terminal, the central square and main concessions area, as well as consolidating the security checkpoints to a single location, and adding more parking capacity was completed in 2004-2005. In 2007, 6,319,016 passengers were processed.

The Jacksonville International Airport includes onsite accommodations at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center.

[edit] Current expansion activities

The second phase of the expansion program[4] is being carried out over three years, commencing in mid-2006 and is projected to cost about $170 million. It includes demolishing concourses A and C of the airside terminal (which for the most part are built to late-1960's standards), to be completely replaced with more spacious, modern facilities which will also house more gates. These two new concourses are slated to open by the spring of 2009. Concourse B however, will be rebuilt at a later date. Also included in the program is a further expansion of the parking system and a new automated baggage screening system.

In order to accommodate constructing the new airside terminal and apron, most of the western-facing gates in concourses A and C have been permanently closed and their jetways removed.

The new Concourse A is now officially opened and the new Concourse C is also expected to open around August 2008. Both concourses will house 10 gates each and have moving walkways installed. But future plans call for expanding the newly built concourses by year 2020 and possibly adding a people mover system to the airport. Along with the openings of the new concourses will be more shops, restaurants and food choices for travelers pre and post security. The airport is already home to onsite facilities including Starbucks, Chili's, Cinnabon, Sam Adams, Wolfgang Puck, Sam Sneads, Sbarro's, Burger King, Quizno's Sub among others.

Virgin America lists Jacksonville as one of 30 cities it might serve in the next five years.[5]

The airport authority is currently trying to add non-stop flights to Phoenix and San Juan with an eye on establishing charter service to Europe.

Future plans also include connecting the airport with the onsite Clarion Hotel via a moving walkway.

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Jacksonville International Airport covers an area of 7,911 acres (3,201 ha) which contains two concrete paved runways: 7/25 measuring 10,000 x 150 ft. (3,048 x 46 m) and 13/31 measuring 7,701 x 150 ft. (2,347 x 46 m).[1]

The airport's two runways are laid out in "V" configuration (with the bottom tip of the "V" pointing West). A long-range plan exists to build two additional runways, each paralleling one of the existing runways. A new runway alongside the existing southern runway will be built first, however, no date has been set yet for implementing the runway expansion plan (the expectation is that construction of the third runway would take place around 2015).

For the 12-month period ending July 30, 2006, the airport had 121,279 aircraft operations, an average of 332 per day: 48% scheduled commercial, 30% air taxi, 17% general aviation, and 5% military. There are 47 aircraft based at this airport: 13% single-engine, 15% multi-engine, 28% jet and 45% military.[1]

[edit] Airlines and destinations

A Delta Connection flight (operated by Comair) parked at the gate
A Delta Connection flight (operated by Comair) parked at the gate

Jacksonville International Airport's terminal has 3 concourses.

[edit] Concourse A

[edit] Concourse B

[edit] Concourse C

Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d FAA Airport Master Record for JAX (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-10-25
  2. ^ Jacksonville International Airport (official site)
  3. ^ Error Occurred
  4. ^ http://www.jaa.aero/as/jia_expansion.asp
  5. ^ Virgin America Opens for Business With a Million Seats to Sell

[edit] External links

Clarion Hotel & Conference Center @ JIA