Bangor International Airport - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the United States Air Force use of this facility, see Bangor Air National Guard Base
Bangor Air National Guard Base
Bangor Air National Guard Base is a United States Air Force base, located at Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine.-Overview:The base is the home of the 101st Air Refueling Wing, Maine Air National Guard. The 101st provides 24 hour air and ground refueling for many aircraft whose...

and Dow Air Force Base
Dow Air Force Base
-History:Dow Air Force Base began as "Godfrey Field" in 1927, on land owned by local attorney Edward Rawson Godfrey . Commercial flights began at the field in 1931 under Northeast Airlines...

Bangor International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located 3 mi (4.8 km) west of the city of Bangor

Bangor, Maine

Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...

, in Penobscot County

Penobscot County, Maine

Penobscot County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. For U.S. Census statistical purposes, it is part of the Bangor, Maine, New England County Metropolitan Area . As of 2010, the population was 153,923...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is owned and operated by the City of Bangor and was formerly a military installation known as Dow Air Force Base
Dow Air Force Base
-History:Dow Air Force Base began as "Godfrey Field" in 1927, on land owned by local attorney Edward Rawson Godfrey . Commercial flights began at the field in 1931 under Northeast Airlines...

. The airport possesses a single runway measuring 11439 ft (3,486.6 m) long and 200 ft (61 m) wide. Despite the departure of most of the Air Force presence in the late 1960s, Bangor International Airport remains the home of a small Air Force contingent in the form of an Air National Guard

Air National Guard

The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...

Base. This installation is hosted by the 101st Air Refueling Wing

101st Air Refueling Wing

The United States Air Force's 101st Air Refueling Wing is an Air National Guard aerial refueling unit located at Bangor International Airport, Maine.-Mission:Federal...

of the Maine Air National Guard

Maine Air National Guard

The Maine Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of Maine. It is, along with the Maine Army National Guard, an element of the Maine National Guard...

, flying the KC-135 Stratotanker

KC-135 Stratotanker

The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an aerial refueling military aircraft. It and the Boeing 707 airliner were developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype. The KC-135 was the US Air Force's first jet-powered refueling tanker and replaced the KC-97 Stratotanker...

.

The airport owes its prosperity to its location on the Great Circle Route, or major air corridor, between Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

and the East Coast of the United States

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

. The 'international' in the airport's name thus doesn't refer to its proximity to Canada (to which it has no regular flights), but its role in transatlantic commerce.

Bangor International is operated as an "enterprise fund", which means that the expense of operating it comes from airport revenue. Revenues are generated by air service operations, resident aviation related industrial companies, real estate, cargo, international charter flights, and corporate/general aviation traffic. The airport serves the residents of central, eastern, and northern Maine as well as parts of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. BGR is the airport's official designation. The airport is one of three international airports in the state of Maine.

History

Bangor International Airport began as "Godfrey Field" in the 1920s, on land owned by local attorney Edward Rawson Godfrey (1877–1958). On Aug. 19, 1923, virtually the entire US Army Air Corps (15 Martin Bombers and 11 DeHaviland Scout Planes) under the command of Gen. Billy Mitchell landed there on practice mission.

Regular air passenger service to Portland

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

and Boston was begun in 1931 by Boston-Maine Airways

Boston-Maine Airways

Boston-Maine Airways was an American airline headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. It operated scheduled commuter services under the Pan Am Clipper Connection banner. Its main base was Pease International Airport, Portsmouth...

, owned by the Boston and Maine and Bangor and Aroostook railroads, but under contract to Pan American, which was interested in the airport as one stop on its planned intercontinental air route between the US and Europe. In 1940 Boston-Maine became Northeast Airlines

Northeast Airlines

Northeast Airlines was an American airline based in Boston, Massachusetts. They began as Boston-Maine Airways, which was founded as a Pan Am contract carrier on July 20, 1931, by the Boston and Maine Railroad and Maine Central Railroad offering service from Boston to Bangor via Portland...

, which eventually merged with Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...

in 1972. Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...

was a celebrity pilot on some of the earliest flights for Boston-Maine Airways in the 1930s. The airport was equipped with floodlights for night flights as early as 1937.

Just prior to the Second World War Godfrey Field was taken over by the US Army Air Corps and became the Bangor Army Air Field. Its mission was to serve as an embarkation point for military aircraft flying to Europe on the Great Circle Route. The name was changed to Dow Army Field in 1942, and in 1947, when the newly formed US Air Force took control, it became Dow Air Force Base and part of the Strategic Air Command

Strategic Air Command

The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...

(SAC). In 1958, the longest runway east of the Mississippi was constructed at Dow AFB in order to accommodate B-52 Stratofortress

B-52 Stratofortress

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, who have continued to provide maintainence and upgrades to the aircraft in service...

bombers — the same runway that accommodates jet passenger aircraft today. In addition to strategic bombers, Dow was home to the 14th Fighter Group and 101st Fighter Wing of the Maine Air National Guard. The 101st later converted to an air refueling mission, was renamed the 101st Air Refueling Wing (101 ARW) and still shares space with the airport today. Flying the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker as an Air National Guard unit, the 101 ARW is operationally gained by the Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command is a Major Command of the U.S. Air Force. AMC is headquartered at Scott AFB, Illinois, east of St. Louis....

(AMC). Some of the other military aircraft that regularly use the airport are Air Force C-5 Galaxy

C-5 Galaxy

The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It provides the United States Air Force with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize cargos, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many...

and C-17 Globemaster III

C-17 Globemaster III

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas, the C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout...

aircraft, as well commercial passenger and cargo aircraft operating under AMC charter.

In May, 1947, 15 USAF F-80 jets took off from Dow Air Force Base on the second trans-Atlantic flight by American jet aircraft. Their destination was Germany, via Labrador.

In 1948 Bangor was one stop on the round-the-world flight of Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to pilot a plane around the globe. She landed at Dow but took off for the next leg (to Canada) from the airport in nearby Old Town

Old Town, Maine

Old Town is a city in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,840 at the 2010 census. The city's developed area is chiefly located on a relatively large island, though its boundaries extend beyond that...

. The Canadian authorities refused her permission to hop the Atlantic and ordered her back to Bangor. She defied them, however, and completed the trip.Round the World Flights

In the 1950s and 1960s, Bangor was a destination for Northeast Airlines before its merger into Delta. Northeast usually used the Douglas DC-6

Douglas DC-6

The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...

for service between Bangor and Boston and New York. In 1965 there was still a single weekly DC-3 flight to Bangor operated by Northeast Airlines.

Dow AFB was closed as an active duty Air Force installation in 1968 but most of the base was purchased by the city and reopened the following year as Bangor International Airport. That portion of Dow AFB not turned over to the city became the basis for the current Air National Guard Base and the Maine Army National Guard

Maine National Guard

The Maine Department of Defense, Veterans, and Emergency Management is a government agency of Maine. It comprises the two components of the Maine National Guard, the Maine Army National Guard and the Maine Air National Guard, the Bureau of Veterans' Affairs, and the Maine Emergency Management...

's Army Aviation Support Facility.

From the 1970s into the 1990s the airport attracted 3,000–5,000 commercial flights a year, mostly charter jetliners flying between Europe and the West Coast of the United States, or the Caribbean and Mexico. Bangor was a logical refueling stop, and as a US Port of Entry, passengers could go through customs and immigration checks while their plane was being serviced. Travelers from every part of the world mingled in the airport lounge — from the French & Belgian contingents of the Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

Fan Club on their way to Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, to President Jose Lopez Portillo

José López Portillo

José López Portillo y Pacheco was the President of Mexico from 1976 to 1982.Born in Mexico City, López Portillo studied Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico before beginning his political career with the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1959.He held several positions in the...

of Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

on his way to Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

with members of his military staff. Laker Airways

Laker Airways

Laker Airways was a wholly private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline founded by Sir Freddie Laker in 1966. It originally was a charter airline flying passengers and cargo worldwide...

, World Airways

World Airways

World Airways, Inc. is an American airline headquartered at the HLH Building in Peachtree City, Georgia. For the most part, the company operates non-scheduled services. Its main aircraft and maintenance base is Tampa International Airport.-History:...

, Lot Polish Airlines

LOT Polish Airlines

Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. , trading as LOT Polish Airlines, is the flag carrier of Poland. Based in Warsaw, LOT was established in 1929, making it one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation. Using a fleet of 55 aircraft, LOT operates a complex network to 60 destinations in Europe,...

, Aeromexico

Aeroméxico

Airways of Mexico, SA de CV , operating as Aeroméxico, is the flag carrier airline of Mexico based in Colonia Cuauhtémoc, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City. It operates scheduled domestic and international services to North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia...

, British Airways

British Airways

British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

, Balair

Balair

Balair was a Swiss airline that became BalairCTA when it merged with CTA/Compagnie de Transport Aerien in 1993. Balair had its headquarters in Basel.-Company history:...

, Condor Airlines

Condor Airlines

Condor Flugdienst GmbH, usually shortened to Condor, is an airline based in Germany, operating scheduled leisure flights to the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, North America and the Caribbean as part of Thomas Cook Group...

, LTU International

LTU International

LTU Lufttransport-Unternehmen GmbH was an airline based in Düsseldorf, Germany, now fully owned by Air Berlin. The initials stand for the German phrase LuftTransport-Unternehmen . It operated scheduled services on medium and long-haul routes, as well as charter services...

, Capitol International Airways, Aeroflot

Aeroflot

OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...

and Pan American were a few of the companies whose livery became common in the skies above Bangor. Finnair

Finnair

Finnair Plc is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters on the grounds of Helsinki Airport in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest...

briefly used Bangor as a hub for regularly scheduled daily flights.

Erwin Kreuz

Erwin Kreuz

Erwin Kreuz was a German tourist to the United States who achieved international celebrity in the late 1970s for mistaking the city of Bangor, Maine for San Francisco, California...

, a 50-year-old German brewery worker on his way to San Francisco, stepped off a refueling charter flight in 1977 mistakenly believing he had reached his destination. Speaking no English, he spent four frustrating days in Bangor looking for San Francisco landmarks before realizing he was not in California. When his story made local and then national news, Bangorians were so delighted with his error that he received the 'key to the city', met the Governor of Maine, was made an honorary member of the Penobscot Indian tribe, received a marriage proposal, and was even given a gift of local land. The San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle

thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

paid his way to California, where he was similarly feted, and he was invited back to Bangor the following year to help open the Bangor Mall.

In October 1969, a Trans World Airlines

Trans World Airlines

Trans World Airlines was an American airline that existed from 1925 until it was bought out by and merged with American Airlines in 2001. It was a major domestic airline in the United States and the main U.S.-based competitor of Pan American World Airways on intercontinental routes from 1946...

plane which had been hijacked in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

refueled in Bangor on its way to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, where the hijacker was captured.

In October 1995, Vice President Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin

Viktor Chernomyrdin

Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was the founder and the first chairman of the Gazprom energy company, the longest serving Prime Minister of Russia and Acting President of Russia for a day in 1996. He was a key figure in Russian politics in the 1990s, and a great contributor to the Russian...

held a brief summit at the airport to discuss economic cooperation.

Bangor has been the port of entry for over a million servicemen and women returning from the First and Second Gulf Wars, Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom and the NATO operations IFOR

IFOR

The Implementation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename Operation Joint Endeavour. Its task was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for...

and SFOR

SFOR

The Stabilisation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina which was tasked with upholding the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the previous force IFOR...

in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

on military charters. Starting in 1991, a combination of local veteran's groups and interested citizens formed themselves into troop greeters to avoid the situation of the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, when soldiers returned without ceremony or greeting. The civilian-driven 'ceremony of return' in Bangor has been well organized and often ebullient. In 2006, former president Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

spontaneously joined the line of troop-greeters when his private plane made a refueling stop.

On July 8, 2010, ten captured Russian spies (members of the "Illegals Program

Illegals Program

The Illegals Program, as it was called by the United States Department of Justice, was a network of Russian sleeper agents under non-official cover whose investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation culminated in the arrest of ten agents and a prisoner swap between Russia and the United...

"), were deported on a government-chartered jet which took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport

LaGuardia Airport

LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...

bound for Vienna International Airport

Vienna International Airport

Vienna International Airport , located in Schwechat and southeast of central Vienna, is the busiest and biggest airport in Austria. It is often referred to as Schwechat, the name of the county it is in. The airport is capable of handling wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340...

, but with a stop in Bangor for refueling.

Diversion destination

Bangor is the first major American airport encountered by airliners approaching the United States from the east as well as the last major airport for airliners heading towards Europe. Coupled with a runway that is more than two miles (3.2 km) long and an uncluttered airspace, the airport has been a favorite for airplanes diverted due to adverse weather conditions at the destination airport, bomb threats, or the presence of unruly passengers on board.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

, Bangor has also been used as a diversion point for airplanes approaching the United States from Europe which may contain passengers on the Transportation Security Administration

Transportation Security Administration

The Transportation Security Administration is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that exercises authority over the safety and security of the traveling public in the United States....

's No Fly List

No Fly List

The No Fly List is a list, created and maintained by the United States government's Terrorist Screening Center , of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States. The list has also been used to divert away from U.S. airspace aircraft not...

. One notable example was the diversion of singer Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....

(now Usuf Islam) and his daughter, in September 2004.

In May 2005, Bangor handled two such flights in the span of four hours. A Britannia Airways

Britannia Airways

Britannia Airways was the largest charter airline in the United Kingdom, rebranded as Thomsonfly in 2005. Its main bases were Gatwick, London Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow...

Boeing 767

The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...

, flying from Manchester, England to New Orleans, Louisiana, landed at Bangor on a Friday about noon. Four hours later, a British Airways Boeing 747

Boeing 747

The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...

, flying from London Heathrow Airport to Mexico City, did the same. Subsequent changes to the methodology of no-fly lists and enforcement by the airlines have rendered future such occurrences less probable.

Transatlantic flights are also sometimes diverted to Bangor when they experience mechanical trouble. Among those who've made unscheduled stops for that reason are former President George H. W. Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

and Colin Powell

Colin Powell

Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...

, and actors Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

and Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...

.

Pilots often use Bangor's location to prepare aggressive fuel estimates for transatlantic flights to North American destinations, since there is always the possibility of diverting to Bangor for an unscheduled refueling stop should the fuel load prove insufficient to reach the original destination in North America, and in fact it is somewhat common for this diversion to occur.

Current service

Bangor Airport currently has up to 20 daily departures through Allegiant Air

Allegiant Air

Allegiant Air is an American low-cost airline owned by Allegiant Travel Co. that operates scheduled and charter flights. Allegiant Travel Company is a publicly traded company with 1,300 employees and one billion USD market capitalization...

, Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines

, and US Airways

US Airways

US Airways, Inc. is a major airline based in the U.S. city of Tempe, Arizona. The airline is an operating unit of US Airways Group and is the sixth largest airline by traffic and eighth largest by market value in the country....

to LaGuardia Airport

LaGuardia Airport

, Detroit Metro Airport, Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport is a major airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and is the largest airport in the Delaware Valley region and in Pennsylvania...

, Orlando Sanford Airport,
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport is a joint civil-military airport located in unincorporated Pinellas County, Florida, north of St. Petersburg, serving St...

, and seasonally to Reagan Airport.

Since the Second Gulf War, Bangor has also been busy with transcontinental

Transcontinental flight

In the United States the term Transcontinental flight is travelling by air coast-to-coast over the continental United States.-History:The first transcontinental flight across the United States was made by Calbraith Perry Rodgers to win the Hearst prize offered by publisher William Randolph Hearst...

and transatlantic

Transatlantic flight

Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...

military charter flights making refueling stops. Once in Bangor, planes will often disembark military passengers, refuel, reload the troops, and take off to air bases elsewhere in the U.S. or overseas.

The airport has undergone a significant evolution in domestic air service. Passenger counts went from 369,000 in 2001 to over 480,000 in 2005, ending 2005 with a 25% increase over the previous 5 years. A recent upgrading of airport marketing resources and strategies plays a major role in the current success.

Passenger traffic was down 4.7% in the first five months of the year 2007, and there was a 16.2% drop in May 2007. Delta Air Lines, the airport's largest carrier, experienced a 33% decline in passengers in May. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-07-16-portland-bangor-flights_N.htm

In June 2006, the airport introduced nonstop Delta

Delta Air Lines

service to Atlanta. Atlanta was the third new destination added since 2003. However, due to the merger with Northwest, Delta shifted its Bangor service from Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Boston to Detroit and New York City instead. In November 2007, the airport celebrated the inaugural flight of its new low cost carrier Allegiant Air

Allegiant Air

, which now operates flights to both Sanford and Clearwater, Florida.

In April 2008, the airport received a $2.9m grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to upgrade the terminal building and aviation equipment. The project was started in June 2008 and was completed in the Spring of 2009. The construction added a second story to the area around Gate 1 and gave the terminal two levels. There are also new passenger accommodations beyond the security checkpoint, including bathroom facilities and food and beverage options. http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/bangor/

There have been no fatal accidents associated with commercial service at the airport since it was organized as a municipal corporation in 1969.

Airlines and destinations

Top Destinations

**Busiest domestic routes out of BGR**
(July 2010 - June 2011)
Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia International Airport is a major airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and is the largest airport in the Delaware Valley region and in Pennsylvania...	64,000	US Airways
2	New York-LaGuardia, NY LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...	57,000	Delta, US Airways
3	Detroit, MI Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport , usually called Detroit Metro Airport, Metro Airport locally, or simply DTW, is a major international airport covering in Romulus, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It is Michigan's busiest airport....	38,000	Delta
4	Orlando-Sanford, FL Orlando Sanford International Airport Orlando-Sanford International Airport is a public commercial air service airport in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. It was originally constructed as a military installation known as Naval Air Station Sanford that was in operation as a Master Jet Base for carrier-based attack and reconnaissance...	21,000	Allegiant
5	St. Petersburg, FL St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport is a joint civil-military airport located in unincorporated Pinellas County, Florida, north of St. Petersburg, serving St...	14,000	Allegiant
6	Washington, DC Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located south of downtown Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia. It is the commercial airport nearest to Washington, D.C. For many decades, it was called Washington National Airport, but this airport was renamed in 1998 to...	2,000	US Airways

Military operations

In addition to regular operations by the 101st Air Refueling Wing

101st Air Refueling Wing

The United States Air Force's 101st Air Refueling Wing is an Air National Guard aerial refueling unit located at Bangor International Airport, Maine.-Mission:Federal...

of the Maine Air National Guard

Maine Air National Guard

The Maine Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of Maine. It is, along with the Maine Army National Guard, an element of the Maine National Guard...

and other aviation operations by the Maine Army National Guard, Bangor is often the first or last stop on U.S. soil for troops headed to or from Iraq, Afghanistan, or other overseas destinations.

Ground transportation

Bangor International Airport is located off I-95

Interstate 95 in Maine

In the U.S. state of Maine, Interstate 95 is a long highway running from the New Hampshire border near Kittery, to the Canadian border near Houlton. It is the only two-digit Interstate Highway in Maine...

. The airport is served by local taxi and limousine services as well as various rental car companies.
The BAT Community Connector provides bus service between the airport and the surrounding region.

In fiction

Bangor International Airport was the main ground setting for Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...

's novella The Langoliers, which was made into a two-part television miniseries. The miniseries was filmed on location at Bangor International Airport.

External links

Bangor International Airport (official site)

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History

Diversion destination

Current service

Airlines and destinations

Top Destinations

Military operations

Ground transportation

In fiction

See also

External links