Plattsburgh International Airport (IATA: PBG, ICAO: KPBG, FAA LID: PBG) is a county public use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Plattsburgh, a city in Clinton County, New York, United States.
The airport is located at the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base and has been owned by Clinton County since 2002. The old base is still being redeveloped by Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation, established in 1995 after the airbase closed. The airport's massive facilities have been upgraded to civilian aviation standards and the county fully transitioned here from Clinton County Airport as of June 2007.
Passenger service began on June 18, 2007, and Clinton County Airport has been shut down since then. All airline service in Plattsburgh goes through the airport and is in the process of beginning to expand its terminal building to accommodate more passengers and provide more gates for aircraft. Scheduled passenger service to Boston at this airport is subsidized by the United States Department of Transportation via the Essential Air Service program.
It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011-2015, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year). As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 45,998 passenger boardings (enplanements) in 2008, 73,159 enplanements in 2009, 94,808 in 2010, and 139,698 in 2011.
History
Plattsburgh Air Force Base
Plattsburgh International Airport
Plattsburgh International was already a fully operating and profitable industrial airport with tenants including Pratt & Whitney, Bombardier, the Department of Homeland Security, Wood Group, and others. Plattsburgh Aeronautical Institute, a major new FAA approved A&P school sponsored by Clinton Community College and Champlain Valley Educational Services, which opened nearby in September 2009. The airport facilities include a 12,000-foot (3,700 m) runway and a 12,000,000-square-foot (1,100,000 m2) concrete ramp for cargo and aircraft. Plattsburgh also has no night curfews or flight restrictions and enjoys calm weather year around (97% VFR). It is also a Foreign Trade Zone and Empire Zone, making it a virtually tax free zone for many enterprises.
It also has significant multi-modal capabilities, including its own interchange on the Interstate Highway System (Exit 36 of I-87), a direct rail spur from the main Canadian Pacific Railway line between Montreal and New York City; a new railyard on site; and direct rail and highway access to the Port of Montreal just 60 miles (97 km) north. Plattsburgh International promotes itself as "Montreal's U.S. Airport," standing just one hour from downtown Montreal. 75% of passengers departing Plattsburgh International are Canadian.
The aircraft hull involved in United Airlines Flight 811 was abandoned in 2001 during overhaul maintenance at Plattsburgh International Airport.
Facilities and aircraft
Plattsburgh International Airport covers an area of 1,912 acres (774 ha) at an elevation of 234 feet (71 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 17/35 with an asphalt/concrete surface measuring 11,758 by 200 feet (3,584 x 61 m).
The airport has a 35,300 square foot passenger terminal building that opened in 2007. Before 2007 the airport's main structures were the old Strategic Air Command alert facility (aka "Mole Hole") on the north end and the control tower and base operations building in the southeast end. The passenger facility has limited services beyond the airlines, along with a snack booth and food stand. Various former Air Force hangars are located along the tarmac, with largest being 28,000 square feet. The air traffic control tower is located separately, but is currently not functional (i.e., the airport is currently an uncontrolled airport, limited to UNICOM only).
Aircraft rescue and fire fighting is provided by the airport with a fire station utilizing the former USAF fire station adjacent to the old control tower. The department uses former military airport tenders and has a newer Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 (delivered in 2009).
For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2011, the airport had 13,436 aircraft operations, an average of 36 per day: 50% general aviation, 35% air taxi, 15% scheduled commercial, and <1% military. At that time there were 41 aircraft based at this airport: 63% single-engine, 20% multi-engine, 12% jet, and 5% helicopter.
Transportation
The airport is served by taxis and limos and limited bus service. Main parking lots are found near the terminal building, with overflow within the tarmac area and around the terminal building.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines offer scheduled passenger service at this airport:
Charter Flights
Top destinations
Status and expansion
On September 5, 2007, Las Vegas-based airline Allegiant Air announced that it would offer non-stop flights from Plattsburgh International Airport to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida aboard McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 variants. The service began on November 16, 2007. The airline has cited Plattsburgh as an ideal location due to its proximity to Montreal and Burlington, Vermont. Allegiant operates a similar situation with Bellingham International Airport in Bellingham, Washington, which is close to Vancouver. In response to their tremendous success within the region, Allegiant began non-stop service to Las Vegas and Punta Gorda. Las Vegas service ended in March 2014. McDonnell Douglas MD-82s, MD-83s, MD-87s and MD-88s fly the bulk of Allegiant Air routes out of Plattsburgh.
On March 15, 2008, the airport began hosting regular service by Direct Air, offering three direct flights weekly to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The charter airline already had a successful service to Myrtle Beach from Niagara Falls, which has drawn many passengers from Ontario just as Plattsburgh is now doing from Quebec. On April 29, 2011, the airline announced it would offer two non-stop flights per week, departing and returning on Wednesdays and Saturdays, to Lakeland Linder Regional Airport beginning November 10, 2011 using Boeing 737-400 aircraft. The reason Direct had chosen Lakeland as its latest destination was its proximity to both Orlando and Tampa. Direct Air planned to make flights to and from San Juan, Puerto Rico, starting on May 2, 2012. On March 13, 2012, Direct Air ceased operations. The charter carrier was subject to Chapter 7 liquidation on April 12, 2012.
The airport was served by Colgan Air until June 14, 2012, offering up to three flights daily to Boston on a variety of turboprop regional airliners. After Colgan Air went defunct, the relatively unknown Alaska-based airline PenAir was chosen as its replacement when the airline decided to serve destinations in the northeast U.S. PenAir serves Plattsburgh similarly with two to three daily flights to Boston Logan International Airport, exclusively using Saab 340 aircraft. PenAir was selected as Colgan's replacement, and offers to two daily flights to Boston, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
The airport is also served by Spirit Airlines with non-stop service to Fort Lauderdale and seasonal non-stop flights to Myrtle Beach. Also, it was reported on January 13, 2012, via WPTZ that the airport was planning on expanding by building a new two-story terminal with six additional jetways, along with expanded parking, ticket counters, baggage claims and security checkpoints which is estimated to cost more than $40 million. On September 18, 2012, the airport received more than $6.5 million in federal grants to use toward infrastructure improvements that should start early 2013.
Champlain Enterprises successfully restored a vintage 1943 Douglas DC-3 aircraft, which made its first post-restoration flight on June 2, 2006. The aircraft was housed in the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base Auxiliary hangar on the south side of the airports tarmac. It made regular air show appearances throughout the northeast U.S. for the following years, flying out of both Plattsburgh and Morrisonville, New York, before the aircraft was purchased by Basler Turbo Conversions on March 8, 2013; it is currently based at BTC headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at Wittman Regional Airport.
Currently, the airport is in the process of a $55 million expansion with a new two story departure terminal with new 2 new jet bridges (bringing the total to 3), an expanded ticket counter, larger baggage claim, among others which will help the airport keep up with its growth.
Tenants
Beside the airlines there are other tenants at the airport:
- Bombardier
- Exelon Powerlabs
- FAA
- Federal Express Air Freight
- Hertz Car Rental
- Lakeside Container Corp.
- Laurentian Aerospace
- Northeast Group
- Precision Jet Management
- PrimeLink
- Railtech Composites
- Smardt Chillers, Incorporated
- Top Aces
- Triangle Electrical Systems
- UPS Air Freight
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Volo Aviation (FBO)
- Westinghouse Air Brake
- Wood Group
See also
- Clinton County Airport
Other airports that target Canadian travelers as alternatives to their local airport(s):
- Buffalo Niagara International Airport - alternative to airports in the Toronto/Golden Horseshoe (Toronto Pearson, Hamilton John C. Munro, Toronto Billy Bishop)
- Niagara Falls International Airport - another alternative to the above
- Ogdensburg International Airport - alternative to airport in Ottawa (Ottawa-Macdonald)
- Bellingham International Airport - alternative to Vancouver
Notes
References
External links
- Plattsburgh International Airport, official site
- Volo Aviation, FBO
- Aerial image as of May 1994 from USGS The National Map
- Airport diagram PDF at New York State DOT website
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective April 30, 2015
- FAA Terminal Procedures for PBG, effective April 30, 2015
- Resources for this airport:
- FAA airport information for PBG
- AirNav airport information for KPBG
- ASN accident history for PBG
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures
Interesting Informations
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