Jacksonville International Airport is a civil-military public airport 13 miles (21 km) north of
Downtown Jacksonville, in
Duval County,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
. It is owned and operated by the
Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
History
Construction started in 1965 on a new airport to handle travel to nearby
naval bases. The new airport was dedicated on September 1, 1968, replacing
Imeson Field. Terrain precluded lengthening the runways at Imeson, a necessity with the inception of commercial jet airliners. A new idea at JIA was separating departing and arriving passengers on different sides of the terminal (as can be seen in the photo on this page). This is no longer the case, and the airport (which has greatly expanded since the picture was taken) now uses the more typical layout with departing passengers on an upper level with an elevated roadway, and arriving passengers on the lower level.
File:JacksonvilleFLairport.jpg, An overhead photo of Jacksonville International Airport circa 1968
File:JIAdedpgm.jpg, A photo of a program from the dedication of Jacksonville International Airport in 1968
The new airport was slow to expand, only serving two million passengers a year by 1982, but it served over five million annually by 1999 and an expansion plan was approved in 2000. The first phase, which included rebuilding the landside terminal, the central square and main concessions area, as well as consolidating the security checkpoints at one location, and more parking capacity was completed in 2004–2005. In 2007, 6,319,016 passengers were processed.
The second phase of the expansion program was carried out over three years, commencing in mid-2006 and projected to cost about $170 million. Concourses A and C were completely rebuilt; the former concourses have been demolished. Work on Concourse B was given a low priority because the capacities of the rebuilt Concourses A and C were more than adequate for existing demand. The expansion was designed by
Reynolds, Smith & Hills (RS&H).
The economic downturn of 2009 caused a decrease in passengers and flights. This led the JAA to commence the demolition of Concourse B in June 2009 because it was safer and easier for the contractor. After the debris was removed, asphalt was laid to provide space for ground equipment parking. The concourse will be rebuilt when passenger traffic increases, which the JAA had originally projected would occur in 2013 but did not materialize.
A section of the old concourse eventually became part of an airline club lounge which opened in 2019.
Expansion
In 2018, the airport handled 6,460,253 passengers, breaking the previous record set in 2007. 7,186,639 passengers were handled in 2019. This increase in traffic prompted the JAA to revive the plan to rebuild concourse B. The new concourse could open as early as 2022, providing six additional gates and could be expanded later with six more.
The design of concourses A and C also allow them to be extended to accommodate additional gates. In 2019, RS&H and
Jacobs Engineering were chosen to perform the design, while
Balfour Beatty was selected as the construction manager for the concourse B project.
Operations
Facilities
The airport covers and has two concrete
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...
s: 08/26, 10,000 x 150 ft (3,048 x 46 m) and 14/32, 7,701 x 150 ft (2,347 x 46 m).
The
terminal
Terminal may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together
* Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line
* Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devi ...
at JIA is composed of a baggage claim area, on the first floor and a ticketing area on the second floor, at the front of the structure. Past baggage claim and ticketing is the mezzanine, where shops, restaurants and the security checkpoint are located. Beyond the mezzanine are the airport's Concourses A and C, which include 10
gates each (for a total of 20), along with other shops and restaurants.
The airport also has a
Delta Sky Club
Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along wit ...
on Concourse A and a multi-airline passenger club located behind the airside food court.
There are three galleries located off of the main courtyard before the security checkpoint. One features an art exhibit, the second houses a revolving exhibit about a Jacksonville-area landmark or institution, and the third houses a permanent exhibit highlighting the history of aviation in the region.
The airport's two runways form a "V" pattern (with the tip of the "V" pointing west). A plan exists to build two more runways, each paralleling one existing runway. The one alongside the existing southern runway will be built first. No date has been set.
In the fiscal year ending September 2016 the airport had 101,575 aircraft operations, an average of 278 per day: 58% scheduled commercial, 19%
air taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...
, 15%
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
and 8% military. In August 2017, there were 54 aircraft based at this airport: 3 single-engine, 8 multi-engine, 25 jet and 18 military.
Military facilities
Concurrent with the closure of Imeson Airport, the
125th Fighter-Interceptor Group (125 FIG) of the
Florida Air National Guard (FANG) relocated to Jacksonville International Airport. Military Construction (MILCON) funds provided for the establishment of Jacksonville Air National Guard Base in the southwest quadrant of the airport and placement of
USAF-style emergency
arresting gear
An arresting gear, or arrestor gear, is a mechanical system used to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands. Arresting gear on aircraft carriers is an essential component of naval aviation, and it is most commonly used on CATOBAR and STOBA ...
on the JAX runways. Upgraded from group to wing status and redesignated as the
125th Fighter Wing (125 FW) in the early 1990s, the wing is the host unit for Jacksonville ANGB and operates
F-15C and
F-15D Eagle aircraft. The 125 FW is operationally-gained by the
Air Combat Command (ACC).
Jacksonville ANGB is basically a small
air force base, albeit without the military housing, military hospital or other infrastructure of major
U.S. Air Force installations. The
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
provides a fully equipped USAF Crash Fire Rescue station to augment the airport's own fire department for both on-airport structural fires and
aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) purposes. The base employs approximately 300 full-time military personnel (
ART and
AGR) and 1,000 part-time military personnel who are traditional air national guardsmen.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
Statistics
Passenger traffic
The 2018 fiscal year set a record for passenger numbers at Jacksonville International Airport. Between September 2018 and August 2019, the airport handled 7,067,882 passengers, which was a 16.41% increase from the prior year.
Top destinations
Airline market share
Ground transportation
Jacksonville International Airport has direct public transit service to
Jacksonville Transportation Authority
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is the independent agency responsible for public transit in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and roadway infrastructure that connects northeast Florida. However, they do not maintain any roadway ...
's
bus network. The Route 1 bus connects the airport to downtown Jacksonville, with connections to
Greyhound Bus Lines and to the
Jacksonville Skyway
The Jacksonville Skyway is an automated people mover in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, operated by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). Opening in 1989 with three stations in Downtown Jacksonville, the Skyway was extended in ...
monorail system.
Accidents and incidents
On October 4, 1971, George M. Giffe Jr. hijacked a plane in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, then forced the pilot to fly to Jacksonville, where Giffe killed his wife, the pilot and himself when cornered by the
FBI.
On December 6, 1984,
Provincetown-Boston Airlines Flight 1039 crashed on takeoff, killing 11 passengers and 2 crew on board. The debris from the Tampa-bound flight burned near Lem Turner Road. The 1986
National Transportation Safety Board report cited
elevator trim control system failure, causing separation of the
horizontal stabilizer.
See also
*
Transportation in Jacksonville, Florida
The Jacksonville transportation network includes ground, air, and sea options for passenger and freight transit. The Jacksonville Port Authority (Jaxport) operates the Port of Jacksonville, which includes container shipping facilities at ''Blount ...
*
List of the busiest airports in the United States
References
External links
Jacksonville International Airportpage at the Jacksonville Aviation Authority website
* brochure fro
CFASPP
an extensive history of airline service at JAX
Jacksonville International Airport Arts Commission
official site
JIA ARFF Fire Department
unofficial site
*
*
{{Authority control
Airports in Florida
Airports in Jacksonville, Florida
Airports in Duval County, Florida
1968 establishments in Florida
Northside, Jacksonville
Airports established in 1968