Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base Explained

Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base
Faa:5KE
Iata:WFB
Type:Public use
City-Served:Ketchikan, Alaska
Elevation-F:0
Coordinates:55.3444°N -131.6633°W
Pushpin Map:USA Alaska
Pushpin Label Position:left
Pushpin Label:VFB
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of airport in Alaska
R1-Number:E/W
R1-Length-F:3,893
R1-Surface:Water
Stat-Year:2006
Stat1-Header:Aircraft operations
Stat1-Data:10,450
Stat2-Header:Based aircraft
Stat2-Data:51
Footnotes:Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base is a privately owned, public use seaplane base located at the harbor of Ketchikan, a city in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located near the Ketchikan International Airport, which also has its own seaplane landing area. Prior to the opening of the Ketchikan International Airport in 1973, scheduled passenger seaplane service was operated with amphibian aircraft between the seaplane base and the Annette Island Airport located approximately 20 miles south, as this land plane airfield previously served as the primary airport for Ketchikan, with scheduled airline flights being operated by Pan American World Airways, Pacific Northern Airlines and Western Airlines into Annette Island over the years.

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 38,945 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,[2] 40,462 enplanements in 2009, and 43,737 in 2010.[3]

Facilities and aircraft

Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base has one seaplane landing area designated NW/SE which measures 10,000 x 1,500 ft. (3,048 x 457 m)

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 10,450 aircraft operations, an average of 28 per day. At that time there were 51 aircraft based at this airport.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer scheduled passenger service:

Top domestic destinations (January 2011 – December 2011)[4]
RankCityAirportPassengers
1Metlakatla, AKMetlakatla Seaplane Base (MTM)align=right 3,000
2Craig, AKCraig Seaplane Base (CGA)align=right 3,000
3Thorne Bay, AKThorne Bay Seaplane Base (KTB)align=right 2,000
4Hollis, AKHollis Seaplane Base (HYL)align=right 2,000

See also

Notes and References

  1. . Federal Aviation Administration. Effective May 31, 2012.
  2. Web site: Enplanements for CY 2008 . PDF, 1.0 MB . CY 2008 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data . Federal Aviation Administration . December 18, 2009 .
  3. Web site: Enplanements for CY 2010 . PDF, 189 KB . CY 2010 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data . Federal Aviation Administration . October 4, 2011 .
  4. Web site: Ketchikan, AK: Ketchikan Waterfront Seaplane Base (WFB) . . December 2011 .