Huntsville International Airport facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Huntsville International Airport Carl T. Jones Field
NAIP 2006 orthophoto
IATA: HSV ICAO: KHSV FAA LID: HSV WMO: 72323
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Huntsville / Madison County Airport Authority
Serves	Huntsville, Alabama
Hub for	Atlas Air
Elevation AMSL	629 ft / 192 m
Website	www.FlyHuntsville.com
Map
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Runway
Runway Length Surface ft m 18R/36L 12,600 3,840 Asphalt 18L/36R 10,006 3,050 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Aircraft operations 70,816 Based aircraft 86
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Huntsville International Airport (IATA: HSV, ICAO: KHSV, FAA LID: HSV), also known as Carl T. Jones Field, is a public airport. It is located about ten miles (16 km) southwest of downtown Huntsville, Alabama. The airport is in Madison County, Alabama, in the United States.

This airport is a key part of the Port of Huntsville. The Port of Huntsville also includes a large center for moving goods (International Intermodal Center) and an industrial park (Jetplex Industrial Park). The airport serves the greater Huntsville area. It first opened in October 1967 as the Huntsville Jetport. This was the third airport built for Huntsville.

Today, the airport has 12 gates for passengers. These gates have restrooms, shops, and restaurants. There is also a hotel, a parking garage, a control tower, and even a golf course nearby.

The airport's west runway is very long, at 12,600 feet (3,840 meters). This makes it the second longest commercial runway in the southeastern United States. It is only 400 feet (120 meters) shorter than the longest runway at Miami International Airport. Because of its long runways and good equipment for snow and ice, Huntsville is often used when planes need to land somewhere else. This happens if bigger airports like Atlanta are closed or too busy.

The airport encourages people to "Fly Huntsville" instead of driving to other cities like Birmingham or Nashville. In 2009, a report showed that passengers flying from Huntsville paid some of the highest airfares in the U.S. However, in January 2010, the airport saw a 2.3% increase in passenger traffic compared to the year before.

History of Huntsville Airport

Huntsville has had a few airports over the years. The first one was called Huntsville Flying Field or Mayfair Airport. It opened in the early 1930s. It had grass runways and no lights. By 1934, it had four dirt or grass runways.

A second airport opened in 1941. It was south of downtown and had two paved runways. The main runway was 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) long. The terminal building was a small wooden shack. The National Weather Service started working at this airport in 1958. You can still see traces of these old runways from the air today.

The current airport, which is the third one, opened in 1967. It is located west of the city, near I-565. A special opening ceremony was held on September 15, 1968. Famous people like Dr. Wernher von Braun and Senator John Sparkman were there.

In July 2018, Frontier Airlines announced new nonstop flights from Huntsville to Denver and Orlando. This was exciting because it brought back a low-cost airline to Huntsville. Another airline, AirTran Airways, used to fly from Huntsville but left in 2012.

Airport Facilities and Operations

Huntsville International Airport covers a large area of 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares). It sits at an elevation of 629 feet (192 meters) above sea level.

The airport has two asphalt runways:

• Runway 18R/36L is 12,600 feet (3,840 meters) long and 150 feet (46 meters) wide.
• Runway 18L/36R is 10,006 feet (3,050 meters) long and 150 feet (46 meters) wide.

In 2019, the airport had 70,816 aircraft operations. This means about 194 planes took off or landed each day.

• 37% of these flights were military planes.
• 15% were air taxis (small planes for hire).
• 26% were general aviation (private planes).
• 21% were airline flights.

At that time, 86 aircraft were based at the airport. Most of these were single-engine planes.

Airlines and Destinations

Huntsville International Airport is served by six passenger airlines. These airlines are part of the three main international airline alliances. Some flights are operated by smaller regional airlines that partner with the larger ones.

Six cargo airlines also use the airport. Two of these, Cargolux from Luxembourg and Panalpina from Switzerland, are foreign airlines. They both fly large Boeing 747 planes.

Passenger Airlines

Cargo Airlines

Airport Statistics

This section shows how many passengers different airlines carried at Huntsville International Airport.

Most Popular Destinations

This table lists the top domestic (within the U.S.) places people flew to from Huntsville between August 2019 and July 2020.

Past Airline Services

From 1969 to 1980, Huntsville had direct flights to Los Angeles, Florida, and Texas. This was because of the U.S. space program and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

In June 1967, Eastern Air Lines started "The Space Corridor." This connected Huntsville with St. Louis, Seattle, and the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Eastern flew Boeing 727s to these cities. They also had direct McDonnell Douglas DC-9 flights to Houston, where the NASA Johnson Space Center is located.

In November 1967, Eastern had nine flights leaving Huntsville every weekday. United Airlines had four, and Southern Airways had 17.

United Airlines began nonstop Boeing 727 flights to Los Angeles in 1969. United first came to Huntsville in 1961. They took over Capital Airlines, which had flights from Huntsville's old airport. By April 1975, United flew to places like Greensboro, Knoxville, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

Southern Airways also served Huntsville. In the late 1960s, Southern started using McDonnell Douglas DC-9 jets. Before that, they used smaller Martin 4-0-4 planes. In September 1968, Southern had nonstop jet flights to Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Southern later merged with North Central Airlines to form Republic Airlines. Republic continued to serve Huntsville. Eventually, Republic was bought by Northwest Airlines, which then merged with Delta Air Lines.

In early 1985, flights to Atlanta were very popular. There were 17 nonstop flights a day from Huntsville to Atlanta on four different airlines. Today, Delta Air Lines and its partner Delta Connection are the only airlines that fly between Huntsville and Atlanta.

Currently, only Frontier Airlines and Delta Air Lines use larger "main line" jets at the airport. Frontier flies Airbus A320 planes nonstop to Denver and Orlando. Delta uses Boeing 717 and McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft for flights to Atlanta.

Airport Improvements and Expansion

Huntsville International Airport has made many improvements over the years. In 1989, it was the first airport in the U.S. to get a special radar system called an ASR-9. It was also one of only five airports to use jet bridges with glass walls.

The airport has been undergoing major renovations to its concourse (the area where gates are). These improvements include:

• A $60 million terminal expansion (still being built).
• A new 219-foot (67-meter) tall control tower. This was finished in 2007 and opened in May 2008.
• A larger concession area (where shops and food are) of 5,000 square feet (465 square meters). This opened in April 2008.
• Better flight information screens at gates and parking areas (finished in 2007).
• An expanded parking deck with 1,330 more parking spaces (finished in December 2008).
• A larger public waiting and security screening area of 20,000 square feet (1,858 square meters). This was completed in June 2009.
• An expansion of the west runway, making it the second longest in the Southeast (finished in 2006).
• A new taxiway between both runways with a 269-foot (82-meter) tunnel underneath (still being built).
• A new air cargo building at the International Intermodal Center, which is about 92,000 square feet (8,547 square meters) (finished in February 2009).
• Improved security systems (finished in October 2008).
• Taxiway "L" between the airport's east and west runways (finished in October 2008).
• Dirt work for a new road to the Jetplex Industrial Park, connecting to Wall Triana Highway (finished in July 2008).

View of the new control tower

View of the ramp

There are also plans for another terminal area, more runways, and making the two current runways even longer.

See also

In Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Huntsville para niños