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Seattle–Tacoma International Airport

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Template:Airport frame Template:Airport title Template:Airport infobox Template:Runway title Template:Runway Template:Runway |- !bgcolor="#4682B4" colspan="4"|Statistics (2006) |- ! colspan="3"|Number of Passengers |29,978,958 |- ! colspan="3"|Aircraft Movements |340,058 |-

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Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (IATA: SEA, ICAO: KSEA), also known as Sea-Tac Airport, is located in SeaTac, Washington at the intersections of Washington State Route 518, Washington State Route 99 and Washington State Route 509. It is located about 1.5 miles from Interstate 5. It serves Seattle, Washington and Tacoma, Washington as well as the Seattle metropolitan area and western Washington state. The airport is a hub for Alaska Airlines, whose headquarters is located near the airport, and its regional subsidiary Horizon Air. The airport has service to many destinations throughout North America as well as a few cities inEurope and East Asia. It is also a focus city for Northwest Airlines.

The airport has public Wi-Fi available, provided by Wayport.

"Welcome to Sea-Tac!" is said in an automated announcement in the airport's parking garage and skyways, in reference to the nickname that locals of the Seattle metropolitan area have given it. The name came before the city of SeaTac, Washington was founded.

In 2005, Sea-Tac served 29 million passengers making it the 17th busiest airport in the United States and 30th busiest in the world. It ranks 29th in total aircraft operations and 20th in total cargo volume.

History

Seattle-Tacoma Airport was constructed by the Port of Seattle in 1944 to serve civilians of the region, after the U.S. military took control of Boeing Field for use in World War II. The Port received $1 million from the Civil Aeronautics Administration to build the airport, and $100,000 from the City of Tacoma. Commercial use of the airport began after the war ended, with the first scheduled flights occurring in 1947. Two years later, the word International was added to the airport's name as Northwest Airlines began direct service to Tokyo. The runway was lengthened twice, first in 1959 to allow use by jets, and again in 1961 to handle increased traffic for the upcoming Century 21 World's Fair. In 1966 SAS opened the airports first non stop route to Europe. The Port embarked on a major expansion plan from 1967 to 1973, adding a second runway, a parking garage, two satellite terminals, and other improvements to the airport.

Sea-Tac Airport from the air with the SR 509 freeway to the west and the SR 518 freeway to the north

Numerous residents of the surrounding area filed lawsuits against the Port in the early 1970s, complaining of noise, vibration, smoke, and other problems caused by the airport. The Port, together with the government of King County, adopted the Sea-Tac Communities Plan in 1976 to address the airport's impact on the area and guide its future development. The Port spent more than $100 million over the next decade to buy out homes and school buildings in the immediate vicinity, and soundproof others nearby.

FAA diagram of Sea-Tac Airport

After the death of US Senator "Scoop" Jackson in 1983, the Seattle Port Commission voted to change the name of the airport to Henry M. Jackson International Airport, ostensibly to honor the late Senator. However, denizens of Tacoma interpreted the name change as an insult to their community--the second time in the airport's history that the port authorities had attempted to "erase" Tacoma from the map. But the $100,000 that Tacoma had provided for the airport's construction during World War II had come with an explicit promise that the city would be included in the airport's name. The City of Tacoma eventually prevailed in their attempt to return the long-standing moniker, and the name reverted to Sea-Tac early in 1984.

In the mid 1980s Sea-Tac participated in the airport noise compatibility program initiated by Congress in 1979. Airport noise contours were developed, real estate was purchased and some homes were retrofitted to achieve noise mitigation. Starting in the late 1980s, the Port of Seattle and a council representing local county governments considered the future of air traffic in the region and predicted that Sea-Tac Airport could reach capacity by 2000. The planning committee concluded in 1992 that the best solution was to add a third runway to Sea-Tac and construct a supplemental two-runway airport in one of the neighboring counties. Members of the community strongly opposed a third runway, as did Highline School District and the cities of Des Moines, Burien, Federal Way, Tukwila, and Normandy Park, but a 1994 study concluded there were no feasible sites for an additional airport. The Port of Seattle approved a plan for the new runway in 1996, prompting a lawsuit from opponents. The Port secured the necessary permits by agreeing to noise reduction programs and environmental protections. Runway opponents appealed these permits, but dropped their challenges in 2004. In the end, opposition to the runway caused hundreds of millions of dollars in extra costs due to litigation but nothing was accomplished other than to raise the cost of operating the airport. The runway is currently under construction, and is scheduled for completion in 2008 at a cost of $1.1 billion. This runway is one of the most expensive runways ever constructed in the world because of delays, legal and consulting fees. It also represents the tremendous inefficiencies of the region in taking over twenty years and spending hundreds of millions of dollars in costs unrelated to the actual construction costs.

A project recently completed is the Central Terminal that contains the Pacific Marketplace, a retail and dining area of the airport. Lately, there have been some problems with airplanes landing on Taxiway Tango, mistaking it for one of the runways. A large X has been placed at the north end of the taxiway to prevent the planes mistaking it with a runway.

Lack of competitiveness leading to lost airline service opportunities

In 2003, Lufthansa sought to introduce a new route to the Pacific Northwest. Although Seattle had immense advantages including a larger population and business base as well as excellent connecting airline service by Star Alliance partner, United Airlines, Portland International Airport was chosen instead. It is believed that the high costs of operating at the airport in Seattle resulted in the lost route opportunity.

Later, Mexicana sought to increase service to the region but chose Portland, even though the Mexican community and business community is larger in Seattle than Portland.

Southwest Airlines controversy

Citing increased landing fees and other costs due to the aforementioned work at the airport, Southwest Airlines threatened in 2005 to move to nearby Boeing Field. This plan, however, ran into several problems. First, because Boeing Field is a public airport and each airline would have to have been offered equal access, this would have required more capacity than available on the airport's single runway suitable for large commercial airplanes. (Boeing Field has a parallel, smaller runway used by general-aviation airplanes.) Major renovations to the airport would have been required to alleviate this problem. While Southwest did indicate willingness to pay for upgrades to the airport, there were also problems with the transportation infrastructure around Boeing Field, which was not designed to handle traffic in and out of a major passenger airport. It eventually became clear that Southwest Airlines would not fund the necessary transportation improvements, and the plan was shot down by King County Executive Ron Sims. Furthermore, there were concerns that the high costs of operating the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport would be increased even further if some airline service were moved to Boeing Field, which was expected to be less expensive to operate for the airlines.

Christmas tree controversy

On December 9, 2006, a controversy arose over the airport's display of Christmas trees, which the Port of Seattle officially called "holiday trees" in all public statements. Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky of Northwest Friends of Chabad-Lubavitch requested that he be permitted to install a chanukkiyah in addition to the trees. Talks were unproductive. The rabbi's attorney, Harvey Grad, sent a legal document to the port. Fearing a lawsuit, the airport took 14 Christmas trees down. This attracted international media attention. After Rabbi Bogomilsky and other Jewish leaders stated that they had no intention of suing the Port of Seattle, the port reinstalled the trees on the night of December 11, 2006.

Incidents and accidents

  • November 30, 1947: Alaska Airlines Flight 009, a Douglas C-54A en route to Seattle from Anchorage, Alaska, landed in heavy fog and damp conditions after failed attempts at nearby Boeing Field and Paine Field in Everett. The plane touched down 2,748 feet beyond the approach area to Runway 20 and sped onto a nearby road, colliding with an automobile and bursting into flames. Nine fatalities resulted from the accident, including a blind woman riding in the car.
  • April 2, 1956: Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser headed to Portland, Oregon and points east, experienced reduced power and extreme buffeting shortly after take-off due to an improper setting of the airplane's cowl flaps by the flight engineer. Plans were initially made to land at McChord Air Force Base, but the pilot was forced to make a water landing in Puget Sound east of Maury Island. The plane sank within 15 minutes; five of the 38 on board died.
  • November 24, 1971: Northwest Airlines Flight 305, flying to Sea-Tac from Portland International Airport, was hijacked by a man now known as D. B. Cooper. He released the passengers after landing in exchange for $200,000 and four parachutes, ordered the plane back into the air, and jumped out over Southwest Washington with the money.
  • April 15, 1988: Horizon Air Flight 2658, departing for Spokane International Airport, experienced a power loss in the #2 engine shortly after takeoff. While the crew lowered the gear for landing as they returned to the airport, a massive fire broke out in the right engine nacelle, resulting in a loss of braking and directional control. After touchdown, the aircraft veered off the runway and crossed the ramp, colliding with multiple jetways before coming to a stop. Four of the 37 passengers were seriously injured, but there were no fatalities.
  • January 31, 2000: Alaska Airlines Flight 261, which was headed on a Puerto Vallarta-San Francisco-Seattle-Tacoma route, crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing everyone on board.
  • February 28, 2001: The 2001 Nisqually earthquake damaged the Air Traffic Control tower at Sea-Tac, although a new earthquake-resistant tower was being built at the time to replace the old one. It is now operational.
  • December 26, 2005: Alaska Airlines Flight 536 , which was headed from Seattle, WA to Burbank, CA was forced to make an emergency landing. The cause was a 12" by 6" hole in the fuselage, which caused the plane to lose cabin pressure. The cause of the hole was a collision prior to the flight by a baggage handling cart which created a dent that turned into a large hole when the plane hit altitude.
  • February 12, 2006: United Airlines Flight 949, arriving from O'Hare International Airport, collided with a passenger bridge shortly after landing. The aircraft, a Boeing 757, had taxied to the jetway, stopped and set its brakes. The aircraft then rolled forward, causing minor damage to the plane after an engine cowling struck the bridge. One passenger and a flight attendant experienced minor injuries as a result of the incident.
  • 2 December 2006 - Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 (N411QX) overran at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport during a landing in fog after a flight from Boise, Idaho. It overran a few feet while taxiiing forward. The incident is being investigated .

Terminals, airlines, and destinations

File:7377SEA618AS 01.jpg
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700 arriving to the C Concourse

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has a Central Terminal building with four concourses (A - D) and two Satellite Terminals (North and South). The satellite terminals are connected to the central terminal by an underground people mover system. There are three security checkpoints for the entire airport. Once through security, passengers have access to all gates.

Central Terminal

Concourse A

Concourse A has 14 Gates: A1 - A14

Concourse B

Concourse B has 13 Gates: B1, B3 - B12, B14, B15

  • Alaska Airlines
    • Horizon Air (Bellingham, Billings, Boise, Bozeman, Butte, Calgary, Edmonton, Eugene, Fresno, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Kamloops , Kelowna, Lewiston, Medford, Missoula, Pasco, Portland (OR), Pullman, Redmond, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa , Spokane, Sun Valley, Vancouver, Victoria, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima)
  • Continental Airlines (Anchorage, Cleveland , Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
  • Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu, Kahului)
  • Southwest Airlines (Albuquerque, Boise, Chicago-Midway, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville, Oakland, Phoenix, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Jose (CA), Spokane)

Concourse C

Concourse C has 26 Gates: C1, C2A - C2M, C3, C8 - C12, C14 - C18, C20

  • Alaska Airlines
    • Domestic and Transborder: (Anchorage, Boise, Boston, Burbank, Calgary, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Oakland, Ontario (CA), Orange County, Orlando, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), Sitka , Spokane, Tucson, Vancouver, Washington-Reagan)
    • International: (Cancún , Los Cabos , Mazatlan , Puerto Vallarta )
    • Horizon Air (See Concourse B)

Concourse D

Concourse D has 12 Gates: D1 - D12

North Satellite Terminal

The North Satellite Terminal has 14 Gates: N1 - N3, N6 - N16

South Satellite Terminal (International)

The South Satellite Terminal has 17 Gates: S1 - S12, S15, S16A - S16D

All international arrivals (except flights from cities with customs preclearance) and the following departures are handled in the South Satellite Terminal:

International Routes

New service

Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle) beginning June 11, 2007

Discontinued service

  • United (London Heathrow, Hong Kong)
  • Japan Air Lines (Tokyo)
  • Thai (Toronto, Osaka)
  • Aeroflot

Ground Transportation and Access

The airport is served by the Seattle Metro bus system. #REDIRECT ] Taxi, rental cars and door-to-door shuttle service is available. Free parking for the first 30 minutes used to be available but this was discontinued in the mid 1990s.

External links

References

  1. http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2003/06/23/daily22.html
  2. http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2003/12/08/focus9.html?t=printable
  3. http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/p2003/press_092203d.shtml
  4. http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2003/12/08/focus9.html?t=printable
  5. Flight International 12-18 December 2006
  6. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Thai-Airways-International-Public-Company-Limited-Company-History.html
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