Long Beach Airport facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Long Beach Airport
USGS aerial image, March 2004
IATA: LGB ICAO: KLGB FAA LID: LGB WMO: 72297
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	City of Long Beach
Serves	Los Angeles and Orange counties
Location	Long Beach, California
Focus city for	JetBlue Airways
Elevation AMSL	60 ft / 18 m
Coordinates	33°49′04″N 118°09′06″W / 33.81778°N 118.15167°W / 33.81778; -118.15167
Website	www.LGB.org
Map
LGB Location in the Los Angeles metropolitan area Show map of the Los Angeles metropolitan area LGB Location in California Show map of California LGB Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Runway
Runway Length Surface ft m 12/30 10,000 3,048 Asphalt 7L/25R 6,191 1,887 Asphalt 7R/25L 5,421 1,652 Asphalt 16L/34R 3,330 1,015 Asphalt 16R/34L 4,470 1,362 Asphalt
[[Helipad|]]
Number Length Surface ft m H1 50 15 Asphalt H2 50 15 Asphalt H3 50 15 Asphalt H4 50 15 Asphalt H5 50 15 Asphalt H6 50 15 Asphalt
Statistics (2017)
Total Passengers 3,783,805 Aircraft operations 260,500
Sources: FAA

Long Beach Airport's terminal building, street view.

Terminal building, rear view. 2009.

Long Beach Airport runway 30 short final.

Long Beach Airport (LGB), also known as Daugherty Field, is a public airport in Long Beach, California. It is about 6 kilometers (3 nautical miles) northeast of downtown Long Beach. The airport serves the areas of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. It used to be called Long Beach Municipal Airport.

This airport is important for commercial flights. In 2010, over 1.4 million passengers flew from Long Beach.

About Long Beach Airport

Long Beach Airport has fewer passenger flights than Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). LAX is about 29 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Long Beach. Long Beach Airport will likely stay smaller. This is because of strict local rules about noise and the number of flights.

The airport has some of the toughest noise rules in the United States. Only 41 commercial flights and 25 commuter flights are allowed each day. Local groups want to keep these rules to reduce noise.

JetBlue and Other Airlines

JetBlue Airways started flying from Long Beach Airport in 2001. JetBlue uses Long Beach as a main base on the West Coast. This brought more flights from cities on the East Coast. JetBlue quickly reached the maximum number of flights allowed. Because of this, JetBlue has had to change flight times. They also send new flights to other airports in the Los Angeles area. JetBlue uses 31 of the 41 allowed flight slots.

Cargo airlines like FedEx and UPS also use Long Beach Airport. They transport about 57,000 tons of goods each year.

Aircraft Manufacturing and General Aviation

Boeing (which used to be McDonnell Douglas) builds C-17 Globemaster III military transport jets here. They also fix other Boeing and McDonnell Douglas planes. Gulfstream Aerospace has a service center at the airport too.

Even with limits on commercial flights, the airport is very busy. Many charter flights, private planes, and flight school planes use it. Law enforcement planes, helicopters, and advertising blimps also fly here. Because of all this activity, Long Beach Airport is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. In 2007, it had 398,433 aircraft movements.

Airport Terminal and Facilities

Long Beach Airport has one main terminal building. It is famous for its Art Deco style, which is a historical landmark. In 2010, the airport started building a new passenger area. This new area cost $45 million and made the terminal much bigger. The airport also added a new parking garage.

Long Beach Transit bus routes 111, 104, and 102 serve the airport. The airport is the second closest to Disneyland, after John Wayne Airport.

Airport History

The very first flight across the United States landed in Long Beach in 1911. A biplane flown by Calbraith Perry Rodgers landed on the sandy beach. Before the airport was built, planes used the beach as a runway.

Earl Daugherty's Influence

A famous pilot named Earl S. Daugherty rented the area that became the airport. He held air shows, did stunt flying, and gave passenger rides. In 1919, he started the world's first flight school. Daugherty convinced the city council in 1923 to build the first city airport on this site.

Early Airlines and Famous Flights

In the 1940s and 1950s, flights from Long Beach only went to nearby cities. These included Los Angeles, San Diego, and sometimes Catalina Island. Jets started flying from Long Beach in 1968.

In the 1980s, new airlines began offering flights to more distant cities. These included Chicago, Dallas, Portland, Seattle, and Denver. Some of the largest planes ever, like the Boeing 767, flew from Long Beach. However, many airlines stopped using the airport in the 1990s.

Airport in Movies

Long Beach Airport has been featured in several movies:

• The 1947 movie The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer used Daugherty Field for its final scenes.
• The airport's terminal was used as "Aeropuerto Val Verde" in the 1985 movie Commando.
• It stood in for Napa Valley Airport in Disney's 1998 movie The Parent Trap.
• The opening scenes of Nickelodeon's Clockstoppers (2002) were filmed here.

Solar Power

In 2008, Long Beach Airport started making its own electricity using solar panels. These panels are located around the terminal. This project helps reduce carbon dioxide pollution by almost 500,000 pounds.

Military Use of the Airport

To attract the United States Navy, Long Beach built a hangar and office building. They offered to rent it to the Navy for just $1 a year. On May 10, 1928, the U.S. Navy opened a Naval Reserve Air Base (NRAB Long Beach) there. The city also built facilities for the United States Army Air Corps in 1930.

Navy Training and Relocation

The Navy base trained Naval Reserve pilots. They offered ground school classes at the base and at the University of California in Los Angeles. In 1939, night flight training began. Soon, other Navy planes also started using the base.

However, more commercial and private planes began using the airport. The Douglas Aircraft Company became interested in Long Beach. The city's leaders started to be unfriendly towards the Navy. They wanted the Navy to leave the airport.

Because of this, the Navy looked for a new location. They bought land about 4 miles east of Long Beach Airport. This new base became NAS Los Alamitos. In 1942, the Navy moved its training to Los Alamitos. Instead of giving the Long Beach facilities back to the city, the Navy gave them to the United States Army Air Forces. The Army had also set up a training base nearby.

World War II Efforts

During World War II, Long Beach Airport was very busy. In 1941, the Civil Aeronautics Administration took control of the airport. It had grown to 500 acres. The airport helped service Navy planes like F4Fs, SBDs, and F4Us.

The Long Beach Army Airfield became home to the Army's Ferrying Division. This group transported planes. A squadron of 18 women pilots, led by Barbara London, was part of this division.

Douglas Aircraft built a large factory at Long Beach Airport. They started building planes in 1941. During the war, Douglas produced many planes, including over 4,200 C-47s. They also made 1,000 A-20 Havocs, 3,000 B-17 Flying Fortresses, and 1,156 A-26 Invaders.

After the war, the U.S. Navy stopped using Long Beach Airport completely. McDonnell Douglas continued to build passenger jets there until 1997. Then, Boeing took over some operations.

On March 18, 2009, President Barack Obama's Air Force One landed at Long Beach Airport. He was there for meetings in Orange County and Los Angeles.

Airport Runways and Aircraft

Long Beach Airport covers about 472 hectares (1,166 acres). It is 18 meters (60 feet) above sea level. The airport has five paved runways:

• Runway 12/30 is 3,048 meters (10,000 feet) long.
• Runway 7L/25R is 1,887 meters (6,192 feet) long.
• Runway 7R/25L is 1,653 meters (5,423 feet) long.
• Runway 16L/34R is 1,212 meters (3,975 feet) long.
• Runway 16R/34L is 1,362 meters (4,470 feet) long.

In 2010, the airport had 329,808 aircraft movements. This means about 903 planes took off or landed each day. Most of these (87%) were general aviation planes. About 10% were scheduled commercial flights. At that time, 435 aircraft were based at the airport. Most were single-engine planes (69%).

Airlines and Destinations

The gates at Long Beach Airport are in two areas: the North Concourse and the South Concourse. Each has four gates. Passengers wait for their planes in temporary buildings.

Here are some airlines that offer scheduled passenger flights:

Terminal Improvements

Long Beach Airport is working on a $136-million project to make the airport more modern. They want to do this without changing its historic Art Deco terminal. The plan includes a new parking garage with 1,989 spaces. There will also be a new concourse with a central garden and 11 gates. These new gates will replace the temporary buildings where travelers wait now.

About $2 million will be spent to fix up the old terminal. It was built in 1941 and is a city landmark. The project will keep the open-air feel of the current terminal. Passengers will still walk across the tarmac to board their planes. The baggage claim area will also stay partly open, like it is today.

Accidents

On March 16, 2011, a private Beechcraft King Air plane crashed shortly after taking off. Five people died and one was hurt. The reason for the crash was not immediately known.

Related Pages

• Western Air Defense Force (Air Defense Command)
• California World War II Army Airfields

• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 15 December 2011
• FAA Terminal Procedures for LGB, effective 15 December 2011
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KLGB
  • ASN accident history for LGB
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KLGB
  • FAA current LGB delay information

Images for kids

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  Long Beach Airport with Mount San Antonio and Timber Mountain in the background

• 

  The west end of the airport in 1936

• 

  Shops inside the terminal

See also

In Spanish: Aeropuerto de Long Beach para niños