Fairbanks International Airport (IATA: FAI, ICAO: PAFA, FAA LID: FAI) is a state-owned public-use airport located three miles (5 km) southwest of the central business district of Fairbanks, a city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough of the United States state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the smallest city in the United States with non-stop service to Europe, as Condor offers weekly flights to Frankfurt during the summer tourist season. In addition, Air North is another international airline with flights (to Canada) and Antonov Airlines offers cargo flights to South Korea.
The airport opened in 1951 and took over existing scheduled airline traffic to Fairbanks, which had previously used Ladd Army Airfield. Alaska Airlines used Fairbanks as its main hub in the 1950s, with service to Seattle and Portland as well as intrastate service to Anchorage, Nome and other destinations.[5] By 1967, however, the airline shifted its Alaska hub to Anchorage; its Anchorage-Fairbanks service continues to this day.[6] In the mid-1970s, following the development of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Alaska Airlines and Braniff International offered "interchange service" between Fairbanks and Houston via Anchorage, Seattle and Dallas. In 1982, following airline deregulation, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines began a similar interchange service using Boeing 727s.
On October 11, 2009, the airport constructed a new terminal and demolished the old terminal which was built in 1948. The new terminal is built around the modern TSA standards. In addition to architectural design and better security, the main terminal now has six jet-bridges (up from the former five).[15] The 2,700m2 of custom unitised curtain wall was designed and supplied by Overgaard Ltd. Hong Kong. The special design incorporated double low-e triple glazing. The new building's footprint is smaller than the old building.
Fairbanks International Airport covers an area of 3,470 acres (1,404 ha) at an elevation of 439 feet (134 m) above mean sea level. It has four runways:
Runway 2L/20R: 11,800 by 150 feet (3,597 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt
Runway 2R/20L: 6,501 by 100 feet (1,981 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt
Runway 2/20: 2,900 by 75 feet (884 x 23 m), Surface: Gravel/Ski Strip
Runway 2W/20W: 5,400 by 100 feet (1,646 x 30 m), Surface: Water/Winter Ski Strip
