Akron–Canton Airport

Akron–Canton Airport (CAK)
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Akron Canton Regional Airport Authority
Serves Akron, Ohio, Canton, Ohio, Massillon, Ohio
Location Green, Ohio
Elevation AMSL 1,228 ft / 374 m
Coordinates 40°54.90′N 81°26.62′W / 40.91500°N 81.44367°W / 40.91500; -81.44367Coordinates: 40°54.90′N 81°26.62′W / 40.91500°N 81.44367°W / 40.91500; -81.44367
Website www.akroncantonairport.com
Map
CAK
Location of airport in Ohio / United States
CAK
CAK (the US)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
1/19 7,601 2,317 Asphalt
5/23 8,204 2,501 Asphalt
Statistics
Aircraft operations (2016) 67,509
Based aircraft (2018) 147
Departing Passengers (12 months ending Mar 2018) 559,000
Sources: airport website[1] and FAA[2]

Akron–Canton Airport (IATA: CAK, ICAO: KCAK, FAA LID: CAK) is a commercial airport in the city of Green, in southern Summit County, Ohio (a small piece of both runways is in Stark County), about 14 miles (23 km) southeast of Akron and 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Canton. It is jointly operated by Summit County and Stark County. The airport is a secondary "reliever" airport for Northeast Ohio and markets itself as "A better way to go", emphasizing the purported ease of travel at the airport in comparison to nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Over 75% of its traffic is general aviation.

The airport has two runways, 1/19 which is 7,601 feet long and 5/23 which is 8,204 feet long, and covers an area of 2,300 acres (931 ha).[2]

The airport is home to a maintenance base for PSA Airlines, a regional carrier that flies under the American Eagle brand for American Airlines.

Early history

Public funds for construction of the airport were allocated during World War II for defense purposes, but construction stalled over a controversy relating to whether public funding of airport construction would be appropriate. As a result, private funding was essential to the initial construction of the airport, particularly in purchasing the land.

The airport was dedicated on October 13, 1946, as the Akron–Canton–Massillon Airport; the name was later changed to Akron–Canton Regional Airport. Passenger air service began in 1948 when American, United, Capital, and Eastern airlines moved from the Akron Fulton International Airport.

A permanent terminal was built in 1955 and expanded in 1962.

Passenger growth and decline

During the mid-2000s, the airport was one of the fastest-growing airports in the Midwest, attracting passengers from the Akron/Canton area and Cleveland metropolitan area.[3] The airport's passenger count doubled between 2000 and 2006, with several new routes added by AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines. The airport experienced its busiest year in 2012, with 1.83 million passengers flying into or out of the airport.

Since 2012, the airport has experienced steadily declining passenger numbers. Following the acquisition of AirTran Airways, then the airport's largest carrier, by Southwest Airlines in 2011, Southwest reduced AirTran's presence at the airport. At the same time, several other low-cost carriers, including JetBlue, Frontier Airlines, and Spirit Airlines, established new routes from nearby Cleveland Hopkins, lowering average airfares at that airport and thereby reducing the demand for Cleveland-based travelers to fly out of further-away Akron. In 2017, Southwest canceled all of its remaining routes out of Akron and consolidated its regional operations at Cleveland Hopkins, as did Allegiant Air the same year.[4][5]

By 2017, the airport's passenger traffic sank to its lowest level since 2004. As of May 2018, the airport had the 2nd fastest declining passenger count of any airport in the US.[6]

Expansion

In 2006 the airport completed an expansion and renovation of the terminal, including the addition of a new wing off the main concourse. It brings the number of gates to 11 (from 9), and provides new baggage areas, a food court, and improved aesthetics. The new wing opened to passengers in May 2006 and was home to Southwest Airlines.

In 2011 the expanded TSA screening area was completed. It has four lanes for screening, with the ability to open two more. Along with the expanded screening area, Advanced Imaging Devices were installed and a TSA Precheck lane was added.

The airport initiated CAK 2018, its 10-year, $110 million Capital Improvement Plan in March 2008. The plan is the most ambitious capital improvement plan in Akron–Canton Airport's history and calls for 10 projects in the next 10 years. One of those projects, a runway expansion, has already been completed. Runway 5/23 was extended from 7,600 ft (2,300 m) to 8,200 ft (2,500 m). The runways will allow aircraft to fly non-stop to anywhere in the U.S. and throughout Mexico and Canada.

Other projects include expanding aircraft parking and general aviation area, replacing aircraft rescue and firefighting maintenance facility, a new customs and border patrol facility, expand auto parking lots, a widened entrance road, expanded ticket wing, and TSA screening area, expanded upper-level concourse and the construction of Port Green Industrial Park, 213 acres (0.86 km2) will be developed into 10-12 business sites.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsRefs
American Eagle Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, New York–LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Washington–National [7]
Delta Air Lines Atlanta [8]
Delta Connection Atlanta, Detroit (ends November 26, 2018) [8]
Spirit Airlines Orlando
Seasonal: Fort Myers, Tampa		 [9]
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Houston–Intercontinental, Newark [10]

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Castle Aviation Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Hamilton, Indianapolis–Eagle Creek

Statistics

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from CAK
(April 2017 – March 2018)[11]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Atlanta, GA 152,000 Delta, Southwest
2 Chicago, IL (O'Hare) 85,140 American, United
3 Charlotte, NC 84,090 American
4 Detroit, MI 47,420 Delta
5 Orlando, FL 42,970 Southwest, Spirit
6 Las Vegas, NV 25,340 Spirit
7 Newark, NJ 23,910 United
8 Myrtle Beach, SC 21,780 Spirit
9 Philadelphia, PA 21,270 American
10 Fort Lauderdale, FL 15,830 Spirit

Carrier shares

Carrier shares: (April 2017 – March 2018)[11]
Carrier Passengers (arriving and departing)
Delta
271,000(24.2%)
PSA
248,000(22.2%)
Spirit
247,000(22.1%)
SkyWest
132,000(11.8%)
ExpressJet
92,000(8.3%)
Other
127,000(11.4%)

Annual passenger traffic

Annual passenger traffic 2005-2017[12]
Year Passengers Change (%)
2005 1,301,000 Steady
2006 1,438,304 Increase 10.6%
2007 1,391,836 Decrease -3.2%
2008 1,469,196 Increase 5.6%
2009 1,444,269 Decrease -1.7%
2010 1,594,875 Increase 10.4%
2011 1,664,387 Increase 4.4%
2012 1,838,082 Increase 10.4%
2013 1,724,676 Decrease -6.2%
2014 1,566,638 Decrease -9.2%
2015 1,545,997 Decrease -1.3%
2016 1,398,615 Decrease -9.5%
2017 1,265,844 Decrease -9.5%

Ground transportation

Akron–Canton Airport has a number of taxicab and shuttle services.[13]

It is also served by one route from each of the region's two public transit providers, Akron Metro Regional Transit route 110, and Canton-based Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) route 81.

The SARTA route provides service every hour for most of the day Monday through Saturday, and serves both Canton and Akron via Interstate 77, including transit centers in both downtown Canton and downtown Akron.[14]

The Akron Metro route is a 5 times-per-day Monday through Friday local route through Southern Summit County, but does serve the downtown Akron Transit Center.[15]

Accidents and incidents

On November 4, 1949, a Harrington's Inc. DC-3, a cargo flight, crashed at CAK short of runway 36 in light snow and limited visibility, hitting trees and landing inverted east of the runway, killing all 3 occupants.[16] This is the worst crash on airport property in its history.[17]

On August 2, 1979, a Cessna Citation 501 piloted by New York Yankees catcher, Thurman Munson stalled and crashed 870 feet (270 m) short of runway 19 killing Munson. The two other people in the plane with him were able to escape the plane just as it caught fire.[18][19]

References

  1. ↑ Akron–Canton Airport (official site)
  2. 1 2 FAA Airport Master Record for CAK (Form 5010 PDF), effective June 21, 2018
  3. ↑ Akron–Canton Airport Achieves Fourth Consecutive Annual Passenger Record Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Southwest Airlines leaving Akron-Canton Airport in June". www.ohio.com. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Allegiant Air departing Akron-Canton Airport for Cleveland Hopkins". www.ohio.com. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Michael Sasso; Steve Matthews. "These Are America's Fastest-Growing Airports". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "Flight schedules and notifications". Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  8. 1 2 "FLIGHT SCHEDULES". Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  9. ↑ "Where We Fly". Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  10. ↑ "Timetable". Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  11. 1 2 "RITA BTS Transtats - CAK". www.transtats.bts.gov. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  12. ↑ https://www.akroncantonairport.com/newsroom/passenger-stats#traffic-filters. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ Akron–Canton Airport Ground Transportation Services Archived July 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ "81: Canton - Akron Express". sartaonline.com. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Route Schedule - Akron Metro". akronmetro.org. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  16. ↑ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on August 5, 2018.
  17. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "Akron/Canton Regional Airport, OH profile - Aviation Safety Network". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  18. ↑ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on January 1, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Yankees' star Munson is killed in plane crash". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. August 3, 1979. p. 1.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.