| Saipan International Airport Francisco C. Ada Airport |
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|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: SPN – ICAO: PGSN – FAA LID: GSN | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | Commonwealth Ports Authority | ||
| Location | Saipan | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 215 ft / 66 m | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 7/25 | 8,700 | 2,652 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (2005) | |||
| Aircraft operations | 39,542 | ||
| Based aircraft | 22 | ||
| Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] | |||
Saipan International Airport (IATA: SPN, ICAO: PGSN, FAA LID: GSN), also known as Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport, is a public airport located on Saipan Island in the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The airport is owned by Commonwealth Ports Authority.[1]
Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Saipan International Airport is assigned GSN by the FAA and SPN by the IATA (which assigned GSN to Mount Gunson, South Australia, Australia). [2] [3]
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SPN was a sugarcane field before the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) constructed a temporary landing field on the site in 1933. The landing field was used for training purposes and had two runways configured in an "L" pattern. In 1937, the Navy began upgrading the airfield for full military use, despite an international law ban on constructing military facilities within the South Pacific Mandate. Following the commencement of hostilities against the United States in 1941, the field was named Aslito Field (アスリート飛行場).
The IJNAS assigned two squadrons of Mitsubishi A6MT Zeros to the airfield in mid-June 1944. These squadrons took part in their defense of the Mariana Islands during the Battle of the Philippine Sea later that month, being almost wiped out by the American forces during the battle.
The airfield was seized by the United States Army 27th Infantry Division on June 18, 1944 during the Battle of Saipan. During the battle, a Zero from Guam actually landed at Aslito Airfield, the pilot being unaware that the field had fallen to the Americans. As it landed it was fired upon and it crashed at the end of the runway. The pilot survived and the plane was captured. The field was renamed Isely Field after United States Navy Commander Robert H. Isely who was killed on June 13, 1944, while strafing the base.
Once in American hands, Isely Field was expanded considerably to support Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortress operations. The XXI Bomber Command had been assigned the overall responsibility of the B-29 operations out of the Marianas bases, and Isely Field was to be used by the 73rd Bombardment Wing (which consisted of the 497th, 498th, 499th, and 500th Bombardment Groups).[4]
The first B-29 arrived on Saipan on October 12, 1944, and by November 22, over 100 B-29s were at Isley. The XXI Bomber Command was assigned the task of destroying the aircraft industry of Japan in a series of high-altitude, daylight precision attacks.
After several months of disappointing high level bombing attacks from Isely (and the other Twentieth Air Force airfields on Guam and Tinian), General Curtiss LeMay, Commander of Twentieth Air Force issued a new directive that the high-altitude, daylight attacks be phased out and replaced by low-altitude, high-intensity incendiary raids at nighttime, being followed up with high explosive bombs once the targets were set ablaze. These nighttime attacks on Japan proved devastatingly effective, and the Superfortress missions from Isely Field led to massive destruction of industrial targets in Japan, with large industrial areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka being repeatedly attacked by waves of American bombers flying from the Marianas until the war's end. In response to these attacks, most of the Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands between November 1944 and January 1945 targeted Isely Field.
With the end of the war the wing's four bomb groups were all returned to the United States, with their B-29s either being flown to Clark Air Base in the Philippines for scrapping, or were flown to storage facilities in Texas or Arizona. The 73d Bomb Wing was reassigned to the United States in December 1945. The airfield was returned to civil control and it reverted back to being called Aslito Field.
Continental Micronesia (originally Air Micronesia) started service on May 16, 1968.[5] The airline initially had its main hub in Saipan Airport. As time passed, the airline's general traffic to and from Saipan had decreased due to the breakup of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; because the territory was subdivided into smaller political units, less people needed to travel to Saipan, the former capital of the trust territory.[6] On July 15, 2008, the airline's Manila-Saipan flight, the final remaining Continental Micronesia directly-operated flight, ended.[7]
Japanese tourists began visiting Saipan in large numbers during the 1970s. The airfield and terminal were significantly upgraded in 1975 to handle widebody aircraft.
In 2005, Japan Airlines suspended its services from Japan to SPN. Routes to Osaka and Nagoya were taken over by Northwest Airlines.[8] The airport was also renamed after former Lt. Gov. Francisco C. Ada that year.[9]
Saipan International Airport covers an area of 734 acres (297 ha) which contains one paved runway (7/25) measuring 8,700 x 200 ft (2,652 x 61 m).[1]
For 12-month period ending December 31, 2005, the airport had 39,542 aircraft operations, an average of 108 per day: 61% air taxi, 19% general aviation, 18% scheduled commercial and 1% military.[1]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air China | Beijing-Capital [begins March 25, 2012] |
| Asiana Airlines | Busan, Seoul-Incheon Seasonal:Osaka-Kansai |
| China Eastern Airlines | Shanghai-Pudong |
| China Southern Airlines | Guangzhou |
| Delta Air Lines | Tokyo-Narita Seasonal: Busan [begins January 6, 2012], Nagoya-Centrair |
| Fly Guam operated by Sky King, Inc. | Guam, Nagoya-Centrair Seasonal: Hong Kong |
| Freedom Air | Guam, Rota, Tinian |
| Sichuan Airlines | Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai-Pudong |
| Shanghai Airlines | Seasonal: Shanghai-Pudong |
| United Express operated by Cape Air | Guam, Rota |
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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