Charleston International Airport

Charleston International Airport
Summary
Airport type Public / Military
Owner Charleston County
Joint Base Charleston
Operator Charleston County Aviation Authority
Location North Charleston, S.C. (US)
Elevation AMSL 46 ft / 14 m
Coordinates 32°53′55″N 080°02′26″W / 32.89861°N 80.04056°W / 32.89861; -80.04056
Website iflychs.com
Map
CHS
Location of the Charleston International Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03/21 7,000 2,134 Asphalt
15/33 9,001 2,744 Concrete
Statistics (2017)
Passengers 3,987,427
Aircraft operations
(incl. military)		 110,523
Source: Charleston Co. Aviation Authority,[1] Federal Aviation Administration[2]

Charleston International Airport (IATA: CHS, ICAO: KCHS, FAA LID: CHS) is a joint civil-military airport located in North Charleston, South Carolina. The airport is operated by the Charleston County Aviation Authority under a joint-use agreement with Joint Base Charleston.[3] It is South Carolina's largest and busiest airport; in 2017 the airport served just under 4 million passengers in its busiest year on record.[4] The airport is located in North Charleston and is approximately 12 miles (19 km) northwest of downtown Charleston. The airport is also home to the Boeing facility that assembles the 787 Dreamliner.[5]

History

In 1928, the Charleston Airport Corporation was founded and purchased 700 acres of land previously belonging to a mining company. Although privately developed at first, the City of Charleston floated bonds in 1931 to acquire a portion of the site for passenger service. Within ten years, three runways were paved and outfitted with lighting for nighttime operations. In World War II, control of the airfield passed to the United States Army though civilian service was allowed to continue to use the airfield. After the war, the airfield reverted to civilian use for a short time. In 1949, a new passenger terminal was built.

During the Korean War, the airfield was reactivated for military use and in 1952, the City of Charleston and the United States Air Force reached an agreement on control of the base and the runways—an arrangement that has been renegotiated over time and that continues to this day. In 1979, the civilian portions of the airport were transferred from the City of Charleston to the Charleston County Aviation Authority, which had operated two other airports in the area. The current terminal on the south end of the airport was built in the 1980s on land acquired by Georgia Pacific.[6]

View of Charleston Field, a U.S. Air Force base

In October 2009, Boeing announced that it would build a major plant on 265 acres at the airport as a second final assembly site for its 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft. The facility began limited operations in July 2011 and rolled out its first completed aircraft in April 2012. Additional facilities to complement aircraft assembly have since been announced by the company.[5]

Throughout its history, all three domestic legacy carriers (American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines) and their predecessor companies or affiliates have served Charleston International Airport. Aside from the legacy carriers, Charleston has seen periods of additional air service from other carriers, but prior to 2010, those services were short-lived. The airport has had brief periods of international service. In 2001, Air Canada briefly served the airport from Toronto but ended service immediately after the September 11th attacks. Porter Airlines briefly served Charleston with flights to Toronto in 2015.

Since 2010, the airport has seen an 83 percent increase in passenger figures.[7] New services established by Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and Alaska Airlines during this time along with increased services from the three legacy carriers have contributed to this growth. Today, the airport is the only facility in South Carolina to offer regular flights to all four time zones in the contiguous United States.

Facilities and aircraft

Airport

View of the airfield from the passenger terminal

The airport consists of four general areas: the military area to the west, the airline terminal to the south, the general aviation area to the east, and the Boeing assembly area further to the south. The combined airport area of Charleston International Airport and Charleston Air Force Base covers 2,060 acres (830 ha) and has two runways: 15/33, 9,001 ft × 200 ft (2,744 m × 61 m) and 03/21, 7,000 ft × 150 ft (2,134 m × 46 m).[2]

For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2017, the airport had 108,372 aircraft operations, an average of 297 per day: 37% commercial, 27% general aviation, 20% military, and 18% air taxi.[2][1] In December 2017, there were 69 aircraft based at this airport: 29 single-engine, 12 multi-engine, 22 jet, and 6 helicopter.[2]

Joint Base Charleston owns and operates the runways at the airport and has an agreement with the Charleston County Aviation Authority to allow civilian use of the field. General aviation services are operated by the Charleston County Aviation Authority. Boeing South Carolina operates the Boeing assembly area.

Passenger terminal

Interior of Concourse A

The current airline terminal completed a three-year, $200 million redevelopment project in October 2016 which added five gates and significantly renovated the interior appearance of the facility.[8] The original terminal was built in 1987 and was designed by Howard Needles Tammen & Bergendoff, Davis & Floyd, Inc., and Lucas & Stubbs.[9][10]

Both departures and arrivals are located on the same floor, with the departure area to the east end of the terminal and the arrival area to the west end. Flights depart from two concourses: Concourse A towards the east and Concourse B towards the west. Since 2015, a consolidated TSA security checkpoint is utilized for both concourses.[11] Charleston International Airport is classified as a security-level Category I airport by the TSA. The airport is equipped to handle international flights.

Concourse A contains five gates is primarily used by Delta Air Lines and Delta Connection, with other airlines occasionally using a gate for overflow. Concourse B contains ten gates and is used by Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, American Eagle, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and United Express. Concourse B also contains the international arrivals facility when needed.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsRefs
Alaska Airlines Seattle/Tacoma [12]
Allegiant Air Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh [13]
American Airlines Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth
Seasonal: Philadelphia 		[14]
American Eagle Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York-LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Washington–National
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare 		[14]
Delta Air Lines Atlanta, New York–JFK [15]
Delta Connection Boston,[16] Detroit, New York–JFK, New York–LaGuardia
Seasonal: Atlanta 		[15]
Frontier Airlines Denver,[17] Philadelphia[17]
Seasonal: Austin,[18] Chicago–O'Hare,[17] Minneapolis/St Paul,[19] Trenton[18] 		[20]
JetBlue Airways Boston, Fort Lauderdale, New York–JFK, Washington–National [21]
Southwest Airlines Baltimore, Chicago–Midway, Dallas–Love, Houston–Hobby, Nashville
Seasonal: Denver,[22] St. Louis 		[23]
United Airlines Chicago–O'Hare, Newark
Seasonal: Houston-Intercontinental, Washington–Dulles 		[24]
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Denver (begins June 6, 2019),[25] Houston–Intercontinental, Newark, Washington–Dulles
Seasonal: Cleveland 		[24]

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Atlas Air Anchorage, Grottaglie,[26] Seattle–Paine,[27] Wichita–McConnell AFB[28]
FedEx Express Greensboro, Memphis, Nashville
FedEx Feeder Memphis
UPS Airlines Columbia (SC), Greenville/Spartanburg

Statistics

Airline market share

Carrier shares: Jul 2017 – Jun 2018[29]
Carrier Passengers (arriving and departing)
Delta
928,000(22.76%)
Southwest
658,000(16.15%)
JetBlue
524,000(12.87%)
PSA
396,000(9.73%)
American
340,000(8.35%)
Other airlines
1,229,000(30.15%)

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from CHS (Jul 2017 – Jun 2018)[29]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Atlanta, Georgia 431,000 Delta
2 Charlotte, North Carolina 235,000 American
3 New York–JFK, New York 158,000 Delta, JetBlue
4 Washington–National, D.C. 133,000 American, JetBlue
5 Baltimore, Maryland 126,000 Southwest
6 Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois 98,000 American, Frontier, United
7 Newark, New Jersey 90,000 United
8 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 86,000 American
9 Washington–Dulles, Virginia 77,000 United
10 Chicago–Midway, Illinois 70,000 Southwest

Annual traffic

Annual passenger traffic (enplaned + deplaned) and aircraft operations at CHS, 2003 through 2017[30]
Year Passengers Operations Year Passengers Operations
20031,616,255120,18820132,913,265104,287
20041,828,597123,68920143,131,072105,782
20052,143,105120,84920153,415,952103,602
20061,877,631110,25420163,708,133107,102
20072,275,541112,22920173,987,427110,523
20082,334,219108,438
20092,190,25198,431
20102,021,328101,982
20112,520,829105,019
20122,593,063105,223

Ground transportation

Road

Charleston International Airport is located near the interchange of Interstate 26 and Interstate 526 and is accessible from both interstates using International Boulevard and Montague Avenue exits. The airport does offer a free cell phone parking lot for passenger pickups. For short-term and long-term parking, the airport offers surface or garage parking for up to 30 days. Rental cars from major companies are available. The airport completed a rental car pavilion adjacent to the terminal in 2014.[31]

Bus

CARTA, the regional mass transit system, serves the airport with two bus routes that operate seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to midnight.

  • CARTA Express Route 4, also known as North Area Shuttle (NASH) Express is an express service to downtown Charleston with stops at the North Charleston Visitors Center and at the Tanger Outlets. Total trip time from the airport to downtown is usually 25–35 minutes. As of 2017, a one-way fare is $3.50.
  • CARTA Route 11 is a local service that connects the airport to downtown Charleston with several stops along Dorchester Road and Meeting Street in North Charleston. Total trip time from the airport to downtown is usually 50–55 minutes. As of 2017, a one-way fare is $1.75

Taxis

Taxis and shuttles are available from CHS to Charleston and other destinations in the Lowcountry. Fixed rates are set by the Charleston County Aviation Authority for most major destinations.

Accidents and incidents

References

  1. 1 2 "2017 Operations Report".
  2. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Master Record for CHS (Form 5010 PDF), effective December 7, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Joint Civilian/Military (Joint-use) Airports". Airport Improvement Program. Federal Aviation Administration. March 6, 2002. Retrieved September 29, 2008.
  4. ↑ "Charleston International Airport breaks passenger record for 6th straight year". WCSC-TV. January 29, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Airport History". Chs Airport.
  7. ↑ "Charleston airport saw record 3.7M passengers in 2016, could see 4M this year". Post and Courier. January 19, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  8. ↑ "$200M Charleston airport renovation wraps up".
  9. ↑ "Airport History". Chs-airport.com.
  10. ↑ Wiesenthal, Eric (December 26, 1981). "Airport Taking Shape". The Post and Courier. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Consolidated TSA checkpoint opens April 15". Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Flight Timetable". Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  13. ↑ "Allegiant Interactive Route Map". Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  14. 1 2 "Flight schedules and notifications". Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  15. 1 2 "FLIGHT SCHEDULES". Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  16. ↑ "Delta to launch flights from Boston to Charleston and Aruba". www.bizjournals.com. 2018-01-16. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  17. 1 2 3 Wise, Warren L. (2017-09-19). "Frontier Airlines to launch new Charleston flights to Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia | Business". postandcourier.com. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  18. 1 2 "Frontier Airlines adds four new cities in 35-route expansion". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  19. ↑ https://news.flyfrontier.com/frontier-airlines-continues-to-make-flying-more-affordable-adds-another-15-routes-with-fares-as-low-as-39/
  20. ↑ "Frontier". Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  21. ↑ "JetBlue Airlines Timetable". Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  22. ↑ https://www.postandcourier.com/business/southwest-plans-to-resume-flights-between-charleston-and-denver/article_91e6db52-c257-11e8-aff3-1b90ce4e36a6.html
  23. ↑ "Check Flight Schedules". Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  24. 1 2 "Timetable". Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  25. ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2018/10/09/united-airlines-new-denver-routes-come-amid-rebanked-schedule-there/1571918002/
  26. ↑ "GTI4322 / 5Y4322". Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  27. ↑ "Atlas Air 4351". Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  28. ↑ "Atlas Air 4431". Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  29. 1 2 "RITA | BTS | Transtats - CHS". Transtats.bts.gov. September 2017.
  30. ↑ "Charleston International Airport - Operations Reports".
  31. ↑ "First phase of Charleston airport overhaul to be completed by mid-March". Warren L. Wise. Charleston Post & Courier. February 10, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.