Tulsa International Airport

Tulsa International Airport
Tulsa International Airport entrance
IATA: TULICAO: KTULFAA LID: TUL
TUL
Location of the Tulsa International Airport
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner City of Tulsa
Operator Tulsa Airport Authority
Serves Tulsa, Oklahoma
Elevation AMSL 677 ft / 206 m
Website www.TulsaAirports.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
18L/36R 9,999 3,048 Concrete
18R/36L 6,101 1,860 Asphalt
8/26 7,376 2,248 Concrete
Statistics (2009, 2010)
Aircraft operations (2009) 116,580
Based aircraft (2009) 167
Passengers (2010) 2,763,562
Source: Federal Aviation Administration,[1] ACI[2]

Tulsa International Airport (IATA: TULICAO: KTULFAA LID: TUL) is a city-owned public-use airport located five miles (8 km) northeast of downtown Tulsa, a city in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States.[1] It was originally named Tulsa Municipal Airport, when the city acquired it in 1929.[3] It was given its current name in 1963.[4]

The 138th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard is based at the co-located Tulsa Air National Guard Base.[5]

The airport is the global maintenance headquarters for American Airlines.[6]

During World War II, Air Force Plant No. 3 was built on the southeast side of the airport, and Douglas Aircraft manufactured several types of aircraft there. After the war, this facility was used by Douglas (later McDonnell Douglas) and Rockwell International (later Boeing) for aircraft manufacturing, modification, repair, and research.[7] IC Bus Corporation now assembles school buses in part of this building.[8]

The Tulsa Air and Space Museum is on the northwest side of the airport.

Contents

History

Duncan A. McIntyre, an early aviator and native of New Zealand, came to Tulsa in 1919. He soon established a private airport on an 80-acre tract at the corner of Admiral Place and Sheridan Avenue. McIntyre Field had three hangars to house 40 aircraft and a beacon for landings after sundown.[9]

McIntyre evidently closed his airport during the 1930s and became the manager of Brown Airport, another private facility. In 1940, McIntyre accepted a position with Lockheed and moved to California.[10]

Charles Lindbergh landed at McIntyre Field on September 30, 1927. He had been persuaded to visit Tulsa by William G. Skelly, who was then president of the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as a booster of the young aviation industry. In addition to being a wealthy oilman and founder of Skelly Oil Company, Skelly also founded Spartan Aircraft Company. Lindbergh had already landed at Oklahoma City Municipal Airport, Bartlesville Municipal Airport and Muskogee's Hatbox Field. All of these were superior to the privately-owned McIntyre Field. Lindbergh pointed this out at a banquet given that night in his honor.[11]

The initial municipal airport facility was financed with a so-called "stud horse note." This was a promissory note similar to those used by groups of farmers or horse breeders who would collectively underwrite the purchase of a promising stud horse. The note would be retired with the stud fees paid for use of the horse. In the case of the Tulsa airport, the note would be paid from airport fees.[11] Using this vehicle, Skelly obtained signatures from several prominent Tulsa businessmen put up $172,000 to buy 390 acres (178 hectares) of land for use as a municipal airport.[11] It was dedicated and officially opened July 3, 1928. The city of Tulsa purchased the airport, then named Tulsa Municipal Airport, in 1929, and put its supervision under the Tulsa Park Board.[3] Charles W. Short was appointed Airport Director in 1929, and remained in this position until 1955.[12]

The first terminal building was a nondescript, one-story wood and tar paper structure that looked like a warehouse. The landing strips and taxiways were simply mown grass. Still, it sufficed to handle enough passengers in 1930 for Tulsa to claim that it had the busiest airport in the world. The Tulsa Municipal Airport handled 7,373 passengers in February 1930 and 9,264 in April. This outpaced Croydon Field (London), Tempelhof (Berlin), and LeBourget (Paris) for the same months.[13]

In 1932, the city inaugurated a more elegant Art Deco terminal topped with a control tower. Charles Short decorated the inside walls with a notable collection of early aviation photographs. This building served for nearly 30 years, until Tulsa opened a new terminal in 1961; on August 28, 1963 the facility was renamed Tulsa International Airport.[4][9]

In January 1928, Skelly bought the Mid-Continent Aircraft Company of Tulsa and renamed it the Spartan Aircraft Company. It first built a two-seat biplane, the Spartan C3 at its facility near the new airport. Later it would also build a low-wing cabin monoplane for use as a corporate aircraft, and the NP-1, a naval training plane used in World War II. In 1929, Spartan also established the Spartan School of Aeronautics across Apache street from the new Tulsa airport to train future fliers and support personnel.The Spartan School was activated as a U. S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) facility on August 1, 1939 as an advanced civilian pilot training school to supplement the Air Corps' few flying training schools. The Air Corps supplied students with training aircraft, flying clothes, textbooks, and equipment. The Air Corps also put a detachment at each school to supervise training. Spartan furnished instructors, training sites and facilities, aircraft maintenance, quarters, and mess halls.[14]

The 138th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard is based here. It was originally organized at the Tulsa airport in 1940 as the 125th Observation Squadron, then renamed when it deployed overseas during World War II.[5]

In 1941, the Federal Government constructed Air Force Plant No. 3, adjoining the east side of the airport. The plant was operated by Douglas Aircraft Corporation to manufacture, assemble and modify bombers for the U. S. Air Force from 1942 to 1945. Production was suspended when World War II ended in 1945. The plant was reactivated in 1950 to produce the B-47 Stratojet and later the B-66. In 1960, McDonnell Douglas, the successor to Douglas Aircraft Corporation, continued to use the facility for aircraft maintenanace. Rockwell International leased part of the plant to manufacture aerospace products. McDonnell Douglas terminated its lease in 1996.[15] Boeing bought Rockwell International's aerospace business in 1996, and took over much of the facility for aerospace manufacturing.[9]

In June 1946, American Airlines decided to build a maintenance and engineering base adjacent to the Tulsa Municipal Airport. According to the company, it is one of the largest private employers in Oklahoma.[6]

The Tulsa Air and Space Museum (TASM) was established in 1998, on the northwest side of the airport property.[16] The museum added the James E. Bertelsmeyer Tulsa planetarium in 2006.

Facilities and aircraft operations

Tulsa International Airport covers an area of 4,360 acres (1,764 ha) which contains three paved runways:[1]

In late 2010 the airport embarked on a major overhaul of the 1950s era terminal buildings. Concourse B (home to Southwest and United Airlines) has begun and will include major HVAC replacement along with the more noticeable design changes. These design changes include sky lights and raising the somewhat low ceilings in the concourse area. Improved passenger waiting areas and gate redesigns. Following completion of Concourse B, Concourse A will get an overhaul (home to American, Delta, and Continental/United).[17]

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 129,014 aircraft operations, an average of 353 per day: 35% general aviation, 26% air taxi, 25% scheduled commercial and 13% military. There are 167 aircraft based at this airport: 32% single-engine, 22% multi-engine, 31% jet, 2% helicopter and 13% military.[1]

American Airlines Maintenance Facility

It is the headquarters for all Maintenance and Engineering activities at American Airlines worldwide, and is the maintenance base for the airline’s fleet of MD-80, Boeing 757, and Boeing 737 and some Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 aircraft – a combined total of nearly 600 airplanes. It employs over 6,400 people, including over 4,700 licensed aircraft and jet engine mechanics. According to the company, it is one of the largest private employers in Oklahoma.[6]

The Base occupies about 260 acres (1.1 km2) and 3,300,000 square feet (310,000 m2) of maintenance “plant” at the Tulsa Airport. Each year, the base performs major overhaul work on about 80% of American’s fleet. It also does aircraft maintenance for other carriers on a contract basis.[6]

Frequencies

Tower

Runways

Airlines and destinations

Tulsa International Airport consists of two passenger concourses (A and B). The airport offers non-stop service to 16 domestic destinations/airports.[19]

Airlines Destinations Concourse
American Airlines Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth
Seasonal: Miami
A
American Eagle Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth A
Delta Air Lines Seasonal: Atlanta A
Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines Atlanta, Detroit A
Delta Connection operated by Pinnacle Airlines Atlanta, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul A
Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City A
Southwest Airlines Dallas-Love, Denver, Houston-Hobby, Las Vegas, Phoenix, St. Louis B
United Airlines Denver, Houston-Intercontinental A/B
United Express operated by Colgan Air Houston-Intercontinental A
United Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines Chicago-O'Hare, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark, Washington-Dulles A/B
United Express operated by GoJet Airlines Washington-Dulles, Denver B
United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, Los Angeles B
United Express operated by Trans States Airlines Chicago-O'Hare, Denver B

Cargo

In addition to cargo service provided by commercial air carriers, TUL is also served by:

Airport management

Industrial Land Development

Tulsa Airport Authority, in 2008, has begun a new Industrial Land Development project. Aerospace is one of the Oklahoma's largest industry clusters with 400 companies that directly or indirectly employ more than 143,000 people with a payroll of $4.7 billion and an industrial output of $11.7 billion. Tulsa is ranked 8th nationally for the size of its aerospace engines manufacturing cluster and 20th for its defense-related cluster.

TUL's central location in the south is easily accessible by a multi-modal transportation network. With a total of 4,000 acres (16 km2) and 14,000 on-airport employees, Tulsa is a large center of aviation activity. Six sites totaling over 700 acres (2.8 km2) of real estate will be developed. Each of the sites can be divided in to smaller lots to meet any organization's individual needs.[20]

HP Enterprise Services Building

The HP Enterprise Services (formerly EDS) Building hosting some of Sabre's datacenter servers is located at the Tulsa Airport. The company applied a reflective material on the roof to reduce heat gain, thereby reducing the air conditioning power consumption.[21] In front of this building is a 6-foot sculptured penguin, which was a fund-raiser campaign for a penguin exhibit in the Tulsa Zoo.

See also

Oklahoma portal
Aviation portal
Military of the United States portal
United States Air Force portal

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

  1. ^ a b c d FAA Airport Master Record for TUL (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-10-25
  2. ^ 2010 North American final rankings
  3. ^ a b Tulsa Preservation Commission "Transportation (1850-1945)." Accessed January 14, 2011.[1]
  4. ^ a b Cantrell, Charles. "City and Airport Long Time Partnership Continues", GTR Newspapers, July 14, 2008.
  5. ^ a b 138th Fighter Wing, Oklahoma Air National Guard - History. Accessed January 27, 2011.[2]
  6. ^ a b c d AMR Corporation Website. November 2010. Accessed January 26, 2011
  7. ^ Air Force Plant No. 3 at globalsecurity.org
  8. ^ IC Bus Website
  9. ^ a b c Jones, Kim. Aviation in Tulsa and Northeastern Oklahoma. 2009. ISBN 978-0-7385-6163-9. Available through Google Books. Accessed January 17, 2011. [3]
  10. ^ Tulsa Gal Website - Duncan McIntyre: "Father of Tulsa Aviation." March 23, 2010. Accessed January 20, 2011.[4]
  11. ^ a b c Cantrell, Chuck. "Lucky Lindy Lands and Tulsa Airport Takes Off." GTR Newspapers, May 14, 2007. Accessed January 20, 2011.
  12. ^ "Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register Tulsa, OK Municipal Airport. Accessed January 17, 2011.[5]
  13. ^ Stewart, D. R. Tulsa World "Hangar One Hangs It Up." May 3, 2003. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  14. ^ Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. "Spartan Aircraft Company."Accessed January 25, 2011.[6]
  15. ^ Global Security Website, "Military - Air Force Plant No. 3 - Tulsa, OK."[7]
  16. ^ Yelp. "Tulsa Air and Space Museum." Accessed January 28, 2011
  17. ^ Tulsa Airport Authority Press Release. "Tulsa International Airport to Begin Concourse B Renovation." July 15, 2010. Accessed February 4, 2011.[8]
  18. ^ Flight aware
  19. ^ Tulsa International Airport: Non-Stop, official website
  20. ^ Tulsa Airport Website
  21. ^ Burt, Jeffrey. eWeek.com "IT & Network Infrastructure : HP Green Data Center Vision Offers Eco-Friendly Power, Cooling Technology." October 14, 2009. Accessed August 29, 2011.[9]

External links