Philadelphia International Airport is the primary airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The airport served 19.6 million passengers annually in 2021, making it the 21st busiest airport in the United States. The airport is located from the city's downtown area and has 22 airlines that offer nearly 500 daily departures to more than 130 destinations worldwide. Philadelphia International Airport is the largest airport serving the state of Pennsylvania. It is the fifth-largest hub for American Airlines and its primary hub for the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

, as well as its primary European and transatlantic gateway. Additionally, the airport is a regional cargo hub for UPS Airlines and a focus city for the ultra low-cost airline

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

. The airport has service to cities in the United States, Canada, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. As of summer 2019, there are flights from the airport to 140 destinations, 102 domestic and 38 international. Most of the airport property is in Philadelphia proper. The international

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 devic ...

and the western end of the airfield are in Tinicum Township, Delaware County. PHL covers and has four runways. Philadelphia International Airport is important component of the economies of Philadelphia, the Delaware Valley metropolitan region to which it belongs, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth's Aviation Bureau reported in its Pennsylvania Air Service Monitor that the total economic impact made by the state's airports in 2004 was $22 billion. In 2017, PHL commissioned a new economic impact report. The report found PHL alone accounted for $15.4 billion in activity with over 96,000 direct and indirect jobs with $5.4 billion in total earnings. In October 2022, PHL gained a direct connection to a Colonial Pipeline fuel supply.

History

Starting in 1925, the Pennsylvania National Guard used the present airport site (known as Hog Island) as a training airfield. The site was dedicated as the "Philadelphia Municipal Airport" by Charles Lindbergh in 1927, but it had no proper terminal building until 1940; airlines used Camden Central Airport in nearby Pennsauken Township, New Jersey. Once Philadelphia's terminal was completed (on the east side of the field)

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, Eastern,

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

and United moved their operations here. In 1947 and 1950 the airport had runways 4, 9, 12 and 17, all or less. In 1956 runway 9 was ; in 1959 it was and runway 12 was closed. Not much changed until the early 1970s, when runway 4 was closed and 9R opened with . On June 20, 1940, the airport's weather station became the official point for Philadelphia weather observations and records by the National Weather Service.

World War II use

During World War II the United States Army Air Forces used the airport as a

First Air Force The First Air Force (Air Forces Northern; 1 AF-AFNORTH) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission is the air defense of the Co ...

training airfield. Beginning in 1940, Rising Sun School of Aeronautics of Coatesville performed primary flight training at the airport under contract to the Air Corps. After the Pearl Harbor Attack, the I Fighter Command

Philadelphia Fighter Wing The Philadelphia Fighter Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the I Fighter Command, stationed at Philadelphia Airport, Pennsylvania, where it was inactivated on 3 April 1946. History The wing was a W ...

provided air defense of the

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

area from the airport. Throughout the war, various fighter and bomber groups were organized and trained at Philadelphia airport and assigned to the Philadelphia Fighter Wing before being sent to advanced training airfields or being deployed overseas. Known units assigned were the 33d, 58th, 355th and

358th Fighter Group 358th may refer to: * 358th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 358th Fighter Group, inactive United States Army Air Force unit * 358th Fighter Squadron (358 FS), part of the 355th Fighter Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force B ...

s. In June 1943 I Fighter Command transferred jurisdiction of the airport to the

Air Technical Service Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

(ATSC). ATSC established a sub-depot of the Middletown Air Depot at the airport. The 855th Army Air Forces Specialized Depot unit repaired and overhauled aircraft and returned them to active service, and the Army Air Forces Training Command established the Philco Training School on January 1, 1943, which trained personnel in radio repair and operations. In 1945 the Air Force reduced its use of the airport and it was returned to civil control that September.

Airline use

Philadelphia Municipal became Philadelphia International in 1945, when

American Overseas Airlines American Overseas Airlines (AOA) was an airline that operated between the United States and Europe between 1945 and 1950. It was headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. History American Export Airlines (AEA), commonly known as Am E ...

began direct flights to Europe. (For a short time AOA's flights skipped the New York stop; that was probably Philadelphia's only international nonstop until Pan Am tried nonstops to Europe in 1961.) A new terminal opened in December 1953; the oldest parts of the present terminal complex (B and C) were built in the late 1950s. The April 1957 OAG shows 30 weekday departures on Eastern, 24 TWA, 24 United, 18 American, 16 National, 14 Capital, 6 Allegheny and 3 Delta. To Europe, five Pan Am DC-6Bs a week via Idlewild and Boston and two TWA 749As a week via Idlewild; one TWA flight continued to Ceylon. Eastern and National had nonstops to Miami, but the TWA 1049G to LAX that started in 1956 was the only nonstop beyond Chicago. The first scheduled jets were TWA 707s in summer 1959. Terminal B/C modernization was completed in 1970, Terminal D opened in 1973 and Terminal E in 1977; the $300 million expansion was designed by Arnold Thompson Associates, Inc. and Vincent G. Kling & Associates. In the 1980s PHL hosted several hubs. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 allowed regional carrier

Altair Airlines Altair Airlines was an airline based in Philadelphia. It was in service from 1967 to 1982. According to its June 15, 1982 system timetable, the Altair name was taken from the first magnitude star " Altairius" brightest in the constellation "Aqui ...

to create a small hub at PHL using Fokker F-28s. Altair began in 1967 with flights to cities such as Rochester, New York,

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

and to Florida until it ceased operations in November 1982. In the mid-1980s

Eastern Air Lines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

opened a hub in Concourse C. The airline declined in the late 1980s and sold aircraft and gate leases to Chicago-based Midway Airlines. Midway operated its Philadelphia hub until it ceased operation in 1991. During the 1980s US Airways (then called USAir) built a hub at PHL. US Airways became the dominant carrier at PHL in the 1980s and 1990s and shifted most of its hub operations from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia in 2003. As of 2013, PHL was US Airways' largest international hub and its second-largest hub overall behind Charlotte. PHL became an American Airlines hub after it completed its merger with US Airways in 2015 and remains one of the airline's biggest hubs, offering an average of 420 departing flights per day to over 100 destinations. In recent years, American has opted to continue expanding at PHL while downsizing its hub at JFK in New York due to greater slot availability, lower operation costs in Philadelphia, and its greater network of connecting flights. In July 1999 the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and several U.S. federal government agencies selected a route for the connecting ramps from

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

to the Terminal A-West complex, then under development; the agency tried to avoid the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. K/B Fund II, the owner of the International Plaza complex, formerly the Scott Paper headquarters Scott Plaza, objected to the proposed routing, saying it would interfere with International Plaza development. It entered a filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to challenge the proposed routing. In 2000, the airport attempted to acquire the complex for $90 million but Tinicum Township commissioners stopped the deal from going forward, citing concerns of a loss of tax revenue for the township and the

Interboro School District Interboro School District is a midsized, suburban public school district located in southeastern Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia in Delaware County. Interboro School District encompasses approximately 11 square miles. The district is mad ...

, which serves Tinicum, as well as noise pollution concerns.Klimkiewicz, Joann.
Airport Is Denied Purchase Of Land Phila. International Wants To Expand. Tinicum Fears Noise Pollution And The Loss Of Tax Revenues.
" '' Philadelphia Inquirer''. February 23, 2000. Retrieved on August 22, 2013. In 2002 construction on the controversial new entrance ramps went forward. The new ramps eliminated the traffic signal and stop intersections previously encountered by northbound I-95 motorists who had to use Route 291 to the airport. The project consisted of six new bridges, more than 4,300 linear feet of retaining walls, and 7.7 lane miles of new pavement. The project also included new highway lighting, overhead sign structures, landscaping and the paving of Bartram Avenue. Also under the project, PennDOT resurfaced I-95 between Route 420 and Island Avenue and built a truck enforcement and park-and-ride facility. In 2003 Terminal A-West opened, with a 1,500-space parking garage. Construction of the terminal was funded by airport revenue bonds sold by the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development. By 2005 two studies dealt with expanding runway capacity at PHL: the Runway 17–35 Extension Project EIS and the PHL Capacity Enhancement Program EIS. Completed in May 2009, the Runway 17-35 Extension Project extended runway 17–35 to a length of , extending it at both ends and incorporating the proper

runway safety area A runway safety area (RSA) or runway end safety area (RESA) is defined as "the surface surrounding the runway prepared or suitable for reducing the risk of damage to airplanes in the event of an undershoot, overshoot, or excursion from the runway. ...

s. Other changes made with the Runway 17–35 Extension Project included additional taxiways and aprons, relocation of perimeter service roads, and modifications to nearby public roads. The status of Philadelphia as an international gateway and major hub for American Airlines and the growth of Southwest Airlines and other low-cost carriers have increased passenger traffic to record levels in the mid-2000s; in 2004 28,507,420 passengers flew through Philadelphia, up 15.5% over 2003. In 2005, 31,502,855 passengers flew through PHL, marking a 10% increase since 2004. In 2006, 31,768,272 passengers travelled through PHL, a 0.9% increase. US Airways commenced a nonstop link between Philadelphia and the Middle East in July 2009, operating an Airbus A330 service to Tel Aviv. Following the merger with American Airlines, the latter carrier continued to fly the route. However, the flight never performed well financially, leading American Airlines to end it in early 2016. At 12,000 feet (3,658 meters) in length, runway 9R/27L (previously 10,506 feet) is the longest civil runway in Pennsylvania. In 2011, a nearly 85,000-square-foot mural was completed along the sides of the airport parking garages that face I-95. The design includes images taken from photographs of Philadelphians dancing by local photographer JJ Tiziou. More than 800 people painted the mural over four months.

Facilities

Terminals

Philadelphia International Airport has six terminals with a total of 126 gates. Non pre-cleared international arrivals are processed in Terminal A. American operates Admirals Clubs in Terminal A, the B/C connector and Terminal F. Terminal A also contains a British Airways Galleries Lounge as well as a

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

Centurion Lounge. Terminal D contains a

United Club United Club is the airport lounge associated with United Airlines and its regional affiliates. United operates fifty lounges at forty-five major airports in six countries, with the vast majority being in the United States. United Clubs feature co ...

as well as a Delta Sky Club. A

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

lounge is located in Terminal E.

Terminal A

Terminal A is divided into two sections, east and west. Terminal A West has 13 gates, while Terminal A East has 11 gates. Terminal A West has a modern and innovative design, made by

Kohn Pedersen Fox Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architecture firm that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in ...

, Pierce Goodwin Alexander & Linville and Kelly/Maiello. Opened in 2003 as the new international terminal, it is now home to

(domestic and international), British Airways,

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

, and Qatar Airways. It offers a variety of international dining options. International Arrivals (except from locations with Customs preclearance) arrive at gates in both Terminal A east and west and are processed at the Terminal A West arrival building. Terminal A East, originally the airport's international terminal, is now used by Aer Lingus and

domestic and international flights as well as international arrivals for

and Spirit Airlines. A-East is well maintained and recently received an upgrade to its baggage claim facilities. Most of the gates in this terminal are equipped to handle international arrivals and the passengers are led to the customs facility in Terminal A West. It opened in 1990. The security entrance was significantly enlarged in 2012. There are three lounges along the corridor between Terminal A East and A West; an American Airlines

Admirals Club American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

, British Airways Galleries Lounge and

Centurion Lounge. The east terminal also contains an Admirals Club. There is also a children's play area located in the east terminal. PhillyAirportLibertyBellLegos

Terminals B and C

Terminals B and C have 15 and 14 gates respectively. They are the two main terminals used by

. They were renovated at a cost of $135 million in 1998, which was designed by DPK&A Architects, LLP. They are connected by a shopping mall and

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...

named the Philadelphia Marketplace. Remodeling was recently done in the gate areas, although these cosmetic changes will not solve the space problems at many of the gates. Overall, the facilities are fairly modern and dining options on the concourses are also available. They are the oldest terminals and opened in 1953. There is an American Airlines Admirals Club located in the B/C connector. Gate Assignments for Terminals B & C are:

/ American Eagle - Gates B1-B16 & Gates C17-C31.

Terminal D

Terminal D has 16 gates; it opened in 1973. The terminal was upgraded in late 2008 with a new concourse connecting to Terminal E while providing combined security, a variety of shops and restaurants and a link between Baggage Claims D and E. This is the inverse of the connector between Terminals B and C, which comprises a combined ticket hall but separate security facilities. Terminal D is home to Air Canada,

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

, Spirit (Check In Only with Gates in Terminal E) and United. This terminal is connected to the shopping area of Terminals B/C through a post-security walkway. The terminal contains a

and a Delta Sky Club. Gate Assignments for Terminal D are: * Air Canada - Gate D5 * Alaska - Gate D6 *

- Gates D8, D10, D12, D14, D15, & D16 * JetBlue - Gate D4 *

Sun Country Sun Country Airlines is an American ultra-low-cost passenger and cargo airline, and the eleventh largest in the US by passengers carried. Based at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport with headquarters on airport property, Sun Count ...

- Gate D6 * United - Gates D3, D7, D9, D11, & D13 *Gates D1 & D2 are used for overflow and are common use gates.

Terminal E

Terminal E has 17 gates. It is home to Alaska Airlines (Check In Only Departures from D6),

Frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

, JetBlue (Check In Only as of 2022), and Southwest. It opened in 1977. Terminal E houses a

lounge available for all members of the military and their family.

Terminal F

Terminal F has 38 gates. The terminal is a regional terminal used by American Eagle and Contour Airlines flights. It includes special jet bridges that allow passengers to board regional jets without walking on the apron. Opened in 2001, Terminal F is the second newest terminal building at PHL. It was designed by Odell Associates, Inc. and The Sheward Partnership. An American Airlines Admirals Club is located above the central food court area of Terminal F. When Terminal F opened in 2001, it had of space for concessions.

Ground transportation

Philadelphia International Airport Terminal A SEPTA station April 2018

SEPTA Regional Rail's Airport Line serves stations at Terminals A, B, C, D, and E. The four stations are Airport Terminal A East/West, Airport Terminal B, Airport Terminals C & D, and Airport Terminals E & F. The stations are next to the baggage claim at each terminal with escalator and elevator access from each terminal's skywalk. The Airport Line connects to Center City Philadelphia, other SEPTA trains, Amtrak trains, and NJ Transit trains at

30th Street Station 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. The Airport Line runs through Center City Philadelphia to Glenside, Pennsylvania; half of the trains continue to

Warminster, Pennsylvania Warminster Township (also referred to as Warminster) is located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was formally established in 1711. The township is 13.7 miles north of Philadelphia and had a population of 32,682 according to the 201 ...

, on the Warminster Line while the other half of weekday trains diverge past

Wayne Junction Wayne Junction station is a SEPTA Regional Rail junction station located at 4481 Wayne Avenue, extending along Windrim Avenue to Germantown Avenue. The station is located in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Wayne Junction serves as a m ...

to continue to

Fox Chase, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Fox Chase is a neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History Fox Chase was originally part of Lower Dublin Township, also known as Dublin Township, a defunct township that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The ...

, on the Fox Chase Line and the other half of weekend/holiday trains terminate at Glenside. The Airport Line runs 5:00 a.m. to midnight daily, with trains every 30 minutes on weekdays and every hour or weekends and holidays. The ride from the airport to Center City Philadelphia takes 25 minutes. Philadelphia International Airport has road access from an interchange with I-95 (exit 12 northbound and exit 12A southbound), which heads north toward Center City Philadelphia and south into Delaware County. PA 291 heads northeast from the airport area and provides access to and from

I-76 Interstate 76 may refer to: Interstate Highways in the United States * Interstate 76 (Colorado–Nebraska) * Interstate 76 (Ohio–New Jersey), running through Pennsylvania Video gaming * ''Interstate '76 ''Interstate '76'' is a vehicular c ...

(

Schuylkill Expressway The Schuylkill Expressway , locally known as "the Schuylkill", is a Controlled-access highway, freeway through southern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Philade ...

). Rental cars are available through a number of companies; each operates a shuttle bus between its facility and the terminals. As part of the airport's expansion plan, the airport plans to construct a

consolidated rental car facility A consolidated rental car facility (CRCF) or consolidated rental car center (CONRAC) is a complex that hosts numerous car rental agencies, typically found at airports in the United States. The largest incentive for building consolidated faciliti ...

. Taxis and ride-sharing services both serve the airport. SEPTA has various bus routes to the airport: Route 37 (serving South Philadelphia and Chester Transportation Center), Route 108 (serving 69th Street Transportation Center and the UPS air hub), and Route 115 (serving

Delaware County Community College Delaware County Community College (DCCC) is a public community college with campuses and facilities throughout Delaware and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania. DCCC was founded in 1967 and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher ...

and

Darby Transportation Center Darby Transportation Center is an intermodal transit station in Darby, Pennsylvania, run by SEPTA. It serves SEPTA Subway-Surface Trolley Lines 11 and 13 as well as SEPTA Suburban Division buses. Near the terminal, a mural can be found of a wa ...

). As a benefit to students, local colleges and universities including The University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University,

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

, Haverford College and Saint Joseph's University traditionally operate transportation shuttles to the airport during heavy travel periods such as spring and Thanksgiving breaks.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines provide daily or weekly flights to the following destinations:

Passenger

Cargo

, , ABX Air , Seasonal: Miami International Airport, Miami , , Amerijet International , Ontario International Airport, Ontario, Sacramento International Airport, Sacramento , , DHL Aviation , Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Cincinnati , , , Logan International Airport, Boston, Piedmont Triad International Airport, Greensboro, Indianapolis International Airport, Indianapolis, Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Dulles International Airport, Washington–Dulles
Seasonal: Bradley International Airport, Hartford , , Kalitta Air , Seasonal: Ontario International Airport, Ontario, Louisville International Airport, Louisville , , UPS Airlines , Albany International Airport, Albany, Southwest Georgia Regional Airport, Albany (GA), Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Logan International Airport, Boston, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo, O'Hare International Airport, Chicago–O'Hare, Chicago Rockford International Airport, Chicago/Rockford, Cologne Bonn Airport, Cologne/Bonn, Columbia Metropolitan Airport, Columbia (SC), Denver International Airport, Denver, Des Moines International Airport, Des Moines, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Detroit, East Midlands Airport, East Midlands, Harrisburg International Airport, Harrisburg, Bradley International Airport, Hartford, Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong, London Stansted Airport, London–Stansted, Long Beach Airport, Long Beach, Louisville International Airport, Louisville, Manchester–Boston Regional Airport, Manchester (NH), Miami International Airport, Miami, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York–JFK, Oakland International Airport, Oakland, Ontario International Airport, Ontario, Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Pittsburgh, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Portland International Airport, Portland (OR), Raleigh–Durham International Airport, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond International Airport, Richmond, San Bernardino International Airport, San Bernardino, San Jose International Airport, San Jose (CA), Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Palm Beach International Airport, West Palm Beach
Seasonal: T. F. Green Airport, Providence , , Western Global Seasonal: Chicago Rockford Airport, Chicago Rockford

Statistics

Top destinations

Top airlines

Annual traffic

Accidents and incidents

* On January 14, 1951, National Airlines National Airlines Flight 83, Flight 83 crashed upon landing at Philadelphia from Newark. The aircraft skidded off the runway, crashed through a fence and came to rest in a ditch. During the incident, the left wing broke off, rupturing the gas tanks and setting the plane on fire. There were seven fatalities in all. Frankie Housley, the lone stewardess on Flight 83, led ten passengers to safety but died trying to save an infant. * On July 19, 1970, United Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 737-222 on a domestic flight to Rochester, New York, experienced an engine failure in the #1 engine right after rotation. The captain decided to reject the takeoff and set the plane back on the runway. The plane touched down 1075 feet short of the runway end, continued across a blast pad, crossing a field, then passing through a 6-foot aluminum chain link fence into a field full of grass, brush and weeds. The 737 came to rest 1634 feet past the end of the runway. There were no fatalities and 18 passengers and one crew member sustained injuries among the 61 on board. The aircraft was damaged beyond economical repair. This was the first hull loss of a Boeing 737. * On February 7, 2006, a UPS Airlines Douglas DC-8 cargo plane suffered an in-flight cargo fire and made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport after filling with smoke. There were no injuries other than smoke inhalation affecting the crew, but the plane burned on the ground for hours into the night, though most of the cargo survived, the aircraft was a total loss, with multiple holes burned through the roof skin. According to the NTSB, the firefighting crew did not have adequate training on using their skin-piercing extinguishing equipment and not knowing how to open the main cargo door, attempted to force the handle and broke the latch, rendering the door unopenable. There were also difficulties in obtaining the cargo manifest to determine what if any hazardous materials were on board, due to confusion about protocol. However, despite these failings, the airport staff, including the firefighting staff, managed the incident successfully without injury or major disruption of the airport. The NTSB suspected lithium ion batteries were the source of ignition and made recommendations for more stringent rules and restrictions on their air transport, especially on passenger aircraft (unlike this one). For a cause of the incident, the NTSB focused on the delayed indication of fire by the required onboard fire detection system and criticized the standards to which such systems are tested, noting that the tests use an empty cargo hold and do not represent the real-world performance of the detection systems with the hold full of cargo, which significantly changes the flow patterns of hot air and smoke. The crew and air traffic control personnel were found to have behaved properly (with minor exceptions) and not to be at fault for the incident or its outcome. *On March 13, 2014, US Airways Flight 1702, an Airbus A320 family, Airbus A320-214, rotated then aborted takeoff and as a result suffered a tailstrike and a nose landing gear collapse. The aircraft then continued down runway 27L coming to a stop off to the left of the runway. None of the 149 passengers and 5 crew members suffered life-threatening injuries. However the aircraft saw substantial damage and was later written off. The aircraft was stored at the airport until 2021 when it was finally removed from the airport for scrapping. * On April 17, 2018, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, a Boeing 737 Next Generation, Boeing 737-700 en route from New York to Dallas, suffered an Turbine engine failure, engine failure on its left engine. Debris from the engine struck the aircraft's fuselage and a side window. The window failed, causing a Uncontrolled decompression, rapid depressurization of the aircraft, which made an emergency descent and diverted to land at Philadelphia International Airport. One passenger died after being partially ejected from the failed window. Seven others were injured and treated locally at the airport.

References

External links

Philadelphia International Airport
(official web site) *
Wings Over Philadelphia – Abundant Information Regarding PHL

Pennsylvania Bureau of Aviation: Philadelphia International Airport

Food and Shops at PHL

PHL-Citizens Aviation Watch
* * {{Major US Airports Philadelphia International Airport, 1925 establishments in Pennsylvania Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Pennsylvania Airports established in 1925 Airports in Pennsylvania Transportation in Philadelphia Southwest Philadelphia Transportation in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Government departments of Philadelphia