Kenai Municipal Airport is a city-owned, public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located in Kenai, a city in the

Kenai Peninsula Borough Kenai Peninsula Borough is a borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,799, up from 55,400 in 2010. The borough seat is Soldotna, the largest city is Kenai, and the most populated community is the ce ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

records, the airport had 96,565 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...

2008, 82,277 enplanements in 2009, and 86,857 in 2010. It is included in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).

Facilities and aircraft

Kenai Municipal Airport covers an area of 1,200

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (486 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 99 feet (30 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has two

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, as ...

s: 2L/20R with a 7,855 by 150 feet (2,394 x 46 m)

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

pavement and 2R/20L with a 1980 by 75 feet (604 x 23 m)

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

surface. It also has a

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

landing area designated 2W/20W which measures 4,600 by 252 feet (1,402 x 77 m). In addition, the airport has two asphalt

helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...

s that are 100 by 100 feet (30 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending December 1, 2011, the airport had 40,178 aircraft operations, an average of 110 per day: 58%

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) an ...

, 32%

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 ...

, 8%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, and 3% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 61 aircraft based at this airport: 88.5% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

and 11.5% multi-engine.

Airlines and destinations

The following

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

s offer scheduled passenger service:

Statistics

Historical airline jet service

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the airport had scheduled passenger jet service to Seattle (SEA). In 1979,

Wien Air Alaska Wien Air Alaska (IATA: WC) was a United States airline formed from Northern Consolidated Airlines (NCA) and Wien Alaska Airways. The company was famous for being the first airline in Alaska, and one of the first in the United States; it ceased ope ...

was operating nonstop flights to Seattle three days a week with

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

jetliners. By 1981, Wien Air Alaska was flying daily direct Boeing 737-200 service to Seattle via an intermediate stop in Anchorage (ANC). Wien then discontinued jet service into the airport and by 1984 was only flying nonstop service to Anchorage with all flights operated with commuter turboprop aircraft.

History

The airport was initially constructed by the US Army under Air Navigation Site Withdrawal No. 156 in 1941 with a 5,000' runway completed by the Civil Air Patrol in 1942. The first terminal building was constructed in 1952, north of the highway spur next to the cemetery. During the Korean War era the US Air Force maintained jet fighters at the airport and provided maintenance via an agreement with the FAA. The USAF agreement ended in 1962, but the Air Force still retains four airport-adjacent tracts of land. In 1963 2,000 acres encompassing the airport and lands were transferred to the City of Kenai by the FAA. The current terminal was built in 1966, with some remodeling in the '80s. In 1973 an FAA control tower was added for increased safety and to permit additional equipment to use the facility. In 1984 commercial flights to Seattle ended. Currently only commuter flights to Anchorage are scheduled. The last large commercial jetliner landed in March, 2014, when a massive snow storm completely closed Anchorage International causing United Airlines Flight 1425 (a Boeing 737) from Chicago to be diverted to Kenai, staying overnight to allow the pilots to complete mandatory rest.

References

External links

Kenai Municipal Airport
official website
FAA Alaska airport diagram
(

GIF The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , see pronunciation) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on 15 June 1987. ...

)
Topographic map
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * * * https://www.airnav.com/airport/PAEN {{Airports in Alaska Airports in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska