Jacksonville International Airport Explained

Jacksonville International Airport
Iata:JAX
Icao:KJAX
Faa:JAX
Wmo:72206
Type:Public / Military
Owner-Oper:Jacksonville Aviation Authority
City-Served:Jacksonville metropolitan area
Location:within Jacksonville city-county limits
Elevation-F:30
Elevation-M:9
Coordinates:30.4942°N -81.6878°W
Image Map Caption:FAA airport diagram
Mapframe:yes
R1-Number:08/26
R1-Length-F:10,000
R1-Length-M:3,048
R1-Surface:Concrete
R2-Number:14/32
R2-Length-F:7,701
R2-Length-M:2,347
R2-Surface:Concrete
Stat-Year:2023/2024
Stat1-Header:Aircraft operations (year ending 2/28/2023)
Stat1-Data:99,616
Stat2-Header:Passengers (fiscal year 2022/2023)
Stat2-Data:7,306,171
Stat3-Header:Based aircraft (2023)
Stat3-Data:72
Footnotes:Sources: FAA,[1] airport website[2] [3]

Jacksonville International Airport is a civil-military public airport 13 miles (21 km) north of Downtown Jacksonville, in Duval County, Florida. 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.[4] 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. This is no longer the case, and the airport now uses the more typical layout with departing passengers on an upper level with an elevated roadway, and arriving passengers on the lower level.

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[5] 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).[6]

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.[7] [8] 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.[9] 7,186,639 passengers were handled in 2019.[10] This increase in traffic prompted the JAA to revive the plan to rebuild concourse B.[11] On May 10, 2024, ground was broken on a new Concourse B. The concourse will have six additional gates, with the ability to expand to up to 10 additional gates. 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.[12] By 2022 traffic recovered to over 6.5 million passengers annually and the expansion project was restarted. Concourse B is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2026. [13]

Operations

Facilities

The airport covers 7911acres and has two concrete runways: 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).[14] The terminal 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.[15]

The airport also has a Delta Sky Club 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 year ending February 28, 2023, the airport had 99,616 aircraft operations, an average of 273 per day: 63% scheduled commercial, 19% general aviation, 14% air taxi and 4% military. In February 2023, there were 72 aircraft based at this airport: 3 single-engine, 3 multi-engine, 46 jet and 20 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 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 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.[16]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Passenger traffic

The 2023 fiscal year (10/1/2022-9/30/2023) set a record for passenger numbers at Jacksonville International Airport. handling 7,306,171 passengers, which was a 14.4% increase from the prior fiscal year.[17]

Annual traffic

JAX Annual Passenger Traffic 2017/2018 Fiscal Year (10/1-9/30) to Present[18] [19] !Fiscal Year!Passengers
2017/20186,221,827
2018/20197,073,228
2019/20203,960,498
2020/20214,162,825
2021/20226,387,924
2022/20237,306,171
2023/2024

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from JAX (January 2023 – December 2023)[20]
RankCityPassengersCarriers
1 Atlanta, Georgia711,000Delta, Southwest
2 Charlotte, North Carolina319,000American
3 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas256,000American
4 Baltimore, Maryland181,000Southwest
5 New York–JFK, New York178,000Delta, JetBlue
6 Newark, New Jersey156,000United
7 Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois146,000American, United
8 New York–LaGuardia, New York146,000Delta, JetBlue
9 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania143,000American, Frontier
10 Miami, Florida134,000American

Airline market share

Largest airlines at JAX
(November 2022 – October 2023)
[21]
RankAirlinePassengersShare
1American Airlines1,663,00023.35%
2Delta Air Lines1,601,00022.48%
3Southwest Airlines1,094,00015.36%
4United Airlines785,00011.02%
5JetBlue Airways608,0008.54%
Other1,372,00019.26%

Ground transportation

See main article: Jacksonville Transportation Authority.

Jacksonville International Airport has direct public transit service to Jacksonville Transportation Authority's bus network. The Route 1[22] bus connects the airport to downtown Jacksonville, with connections to Greyhound Bus Lines and to the Jacksonville Skyway monorail system.

Accidents and incidents

On October 4, 1971, George M. Giffe Jr. hijacked a plane in Nashville, Tennessee, then forced the pilot to fly to Jacksonville, where Giffe killed his wife, the pilot and himself when cornered by the FBI.[23]

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.[24]

See also

External links


Notes and References

  1. , effective February 22, 2024.
  2. Web site: Jacksonville International Airport. 2023-04-13. www.flyjax.com.
  3. JACKSONVILLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TRAFFIC SUMMARY REPORT. December 2023.
  4. "Dedication program, Jacksonville International Airport
  5. Web site: Jacksonville International Airport. www.jaa.aero.
  6. Web site: Reynolds, Smith & Hills – Aviation Building Projects. https://web.archive.org/web/20120619011745/http://www.rsandh.com/Aviation/Aviation-sg_Buildings_projects.asp. dead. June 19, 2012.
  7. News: Bauerlein . David . Economy soars, but memories of Great Recession linger in Jacksonville . 8 June 2019 . . 4 June 2019.
  8. News: Gibbons . Timothy J. . Demolition of JIA's Concourse B brings end of an era . Florida Times-Union . June 22, 2009.
  9. JAX Sets New Record for Annual Passenger Traffic . January 24, 2019 . Jacksonville Aviation Authority . January 21, 2020.
  10. Web site: Enplanements by Airline . flyjacksonville.com . Jacksonville Aviation Authority . 23 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210830235219/https://www.flyjacksonville.com/PDFs/transportation-report.pdf . 30 August 2021 . 31 May 2021 . live.
  11. News: With traffic surging Jacksonville International Airport adding 3rd concourse . Caren . Burmeister . Jacksonville Daily Record . 1 March 2019 . 17 May 2019.
  12. News: JAA selects design team for new concourse . Allison . Colburn . . 2 May 2019 . 4 October 2019.
  13. Web site: JIA breaks ground on Concourse B . News4Jax . May 10, 2024 . May 18, 2024.
  14. Web site: JAX airport data at skyvector.com. skyvector.com. August 18, 2022.
  15. Web site: Terminal Maps . Jacksonville International Airport . June 13, 2014.
  16. Web site: 125th Fighter Wing [125th FW] ]. John . Pike . GlobalSecurity.org.
  17. Web site: JAX Airport Statistics For Fiscal Year 2023. flyjacksonville.com. February 28, 2024.
  18. Web site: JAX Airport Annual Passengers by Fiscal Year. https://web.archive.org/web/20220126144629/https://www.flyjacksonville.com/PDFs/enplanements.pdf . June 22, 2024. January 26, 2022 .
  19. Web site: JAX Annual Passenger Traffic by Fiscal Year. flyjacksonville.com. June 22, 2024.
  20. Web site: Transtats . . March 28, 2024.
  21. Web site: Jacksonville International . Bureau of Transportation Statistics . 24 January 2024.
  22. Web site: Map - Jacksonville Transportation Authority Schedules and Routes . 2022-12-08 . schedules.jtafla.com.
  23. News: A Nashville hijacking 38 years ago set the standard on how not to handle hostage negotiations . Hargrove . Brantley . Nashville Scene . August 27, 2009 . January 21, 2020.
  24. News: Freeman . Clayton . Commercial flight crash not Jacksonville's first . 24 March 2022 . Florida Times-Union . May 4, 2019.