Tallahassee International Airport

Tallahassee International Airport

IATA: TLHICAO: KTLHFAA LID: TLH
WMO: 72214

TLH
Location of the Airport in Florida

Summary
Airport type Public
Owner City of Tallahassee
Serves Tallahassee, Florida
Elevation AMSL 81 ft / 25 m
Coordinates 30°23′48″N 084°21′01″W / 30.39667°N 84.35028°W / 30.39667; -84.35028
Website TalGov.com/Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 8,003 2,439 Asphalt
18/36 7,000 2,134 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 100,420
Based aircraft 136
Total Passengers (2015) 692,724 [1]

Tallahassee International Airport (IATA: TLH, ICAO: KTLH, FAA LID: TLH) is a city-owned public airport five miles southwest of Downtown Tallahassee, in Leon County, Florida. The Tallahassee International Airport serves the State Capital of Florida, and its surrounding areas. This airport is one of the major airports in north Florida, the others being: Pensacola International Airport, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, and Jacksonville International Airport.

International flights will be the next target for Tallahassee International Airport. A new International Arrivals Facility is being planned by the City of Tallahassee and will cost the city around 8.5 million dollars. The facility will be the first International Arrivals Facility in the Panhandle and surrounding areas of Alabama and Georgia. Construction of this facility could begin as early as 2017.

History

City Commission at airport (1961)

The airport began as Tallahassee Municipal Airport with a ceremony on April 23, 1961. The flag of the United States was presented to the City of Tallahassee by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, World War I fighter ace and Chairman of the Board of Eastern Airlines. An aerial demonstration was performed by U.S. Army aircraft from Fort Rucker, Alabama. Tallahassee Municipal replaced the city's first airport, Dale Mabry Field, which closed that year.

Eastern Airlines opened the airport by ferrying city, state and chamber of commerce officials. Aboard the flight were Tallahassee Mayor Joe Cordell, State Comptroller Ray Green, Tallahassee City Commissioners Davis Atkinson, George Taff, Hugh Williams, Tallahassee City Manager Arvah Hopkins, Tallahassee City Clerk-Auditor George White, Airport Manager Flagg Chittenden, and Ernest Menendez, Frank Deller, James Calhoun, John Ward and Jeff Lewis, all of the Tallahassee-Leon County Chamber of Commerce.

From the airport's opening until the early 1980s, the airport's primary runway was Runway 18/36, a 6076-foot runway with an ILS approach, enabling all-weather approaches, and a USAF certified High TACAN approach for practice by Air Force aircraft based at Tyndall AFB, near Panama City. Runway 9/27 was 4000 feet long and supported general aviation operations. By the 1970s the airport had scheduled flights on Eastern Airlines, Delta Air Lines, National Airlines and Southern Airways, mainly on Boeing 727s, Boeing 737s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9s.

By the 1980s the terminal was becoming obsolete, and the 6100 foot runway was too short for the Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 coming into service. Runway 9/27 was converted to a taxiway and a new Runway 9/27, 8003 feet long with ILS, was built just to the south. A new passenger terminal was built just north of the new runway. On December 3, 1989, the city opened the $33 million terminal, and on February 20, 2000, the terminal was renamed the Ivan Munroe Terminal in honor of Tallahassee aviation pioneer Ivan Munroe. Munroe was the first man in Tallahassee to own a plane.

On July 20, 2002. a FedEx Boeing 727 crashed a half mile short of the runway 9 while attempting to land. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the crash was due to a combination of pilot fatigue and pilot error.[3]

On June 26, 2015, Tallahassee Regional Airport was renamed Tallahassee International Airport. On June 29, 2015 the City of Tallahassee and the FAA formally announced the name change of the airport from Tallahassee Regional Airport to Tallahassee International Airport, although this name change does not yet mean that international passenger flights have come to the city. For the time being, the change allows international cargo flights to directly come to Tallahassee, which is the leading cargo handler in the Panhandle area of Florida. Tallahassee alone handles 9.5 million pounds of cargo a year, more than the next city, Pensacola, which handles around 6.8 million pounds of cargo.[4]

Facilities and aircraft

Tallahassee International Airport covers 2,490 acres (1,010 ha) at an elevation of 81 feet (25 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways: 9/27 is 8,003 by 150 feet (2,439 by 46 m) and 18/36 is 7,000 by 150 ft. (2,134 by 46 m).[2] Helicopter operations are generally confined to the Runway 18/36 area, or direct approaches to the Eagle FBO ramp area.

In the year ending May 31, 2007, the airport had 100,420 aircraft operations, an average of 275 per day: 51% general aviation, 29% air taxi, 15% military and 4% scheduled commercial. At that time, 136 aircraft were based at this airport: 76% single-engine, 14% multi-engine, 2% jet and 7% helicopter.[2]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsConcourse
American Eagle Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami A
Delta Air Lines Atlanta B
Delta Connection Atlanta
Seasonal: Fort Lauderdale
B
Silver Airways Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa A

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
FedEx Express Memphis, Tampa
FedEx Feeder
operated by Mountain Air Cargo
Memphis, Orlando

See also

References

  1. "Facts and Figures". Tallahassee Regional Airport web site. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 FAA Airport Master Record for TLH (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2008-04-10
  3. Fatigued pilots' errors blamed in FedEx crash, St Pete Times, June 9, 2004.
  4. "Tallahassee Airport Soars to New Heights". Talgov.com, the Official Website of the City of Tallahassee. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
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