Great Falls International Airport
| Great Falls International Airport | |||
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| On final approach for Runway 3 at GTF International Airport. | |||
IATA: GTF – ICAO: KGTF
 GTF
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| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Great Falls International Airport Authority | ||
| Serves | Great Falls, Montana | ||
| Location | Great Falls, Montana | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 3,680 ft / 1,121.7 m | ||
| Coordinates | 47°28′55.20″N 111°22′14.46″W / 47.482°N 111.3706833°W | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 3/21 | 10,502 | 3,201 | Asphalt |
| 16/34 | 5,722 | 1,744 | Asphalt |
| 7/25 | 4,294 | 1,309 | Asphalt |
| Statistics (2010) | |||
| Enplanements | 159,287UNIQ1f23be7e34b4d73f-ref-00,000,000-QINU | ||
| Tower operations | 40,762UNIQ1f23be7e34b4d73f-ref-00,000,003-QINU | ||
| Passengers (2011) | 344,959 | ||
Great Falls International Airport (IATA: GTF, ICAO: KGTF) is a joint civil-military public airport located within city limits, three miles (5 km) southwest of central Great Falls in Cascade County, Montana, USA. GTF serves the Great Falls area, as well as other communities throughout central Montana.
Great Falls International Airport is also home to Great Falls Air National Guard Base and the Montana Air National Guard's 120th Fighter Wing (120 FW), the "Vigilantes." An Air National Guard unit operationally-gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC), the 120 FW transitioned from the F-16C Fighting Falcon to the F-15C Eagle in January 2009, which it employs in the air defense and air dominance missions.[3]
Malmstrom Air Force Base, home of the 341st Missile Wing (341 MW) of the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), is located 10 miles (16 km) east of GTF, on the east side of Great Falls. With the transfer of its previously assigned KC-135 aircraft in the 1990s, Malmstrom's 12,000-foot (3,700 m) runway is currently closed to fixed-wing traffic and open only to military helicopters. As a result, Great Falls ANGB provides support for transient fixed-wing military aircraft visiting Malmstrom AFB.
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[edit] History
Great Falls International Airport was initiated in November 1928 following a recommendation from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The airport was leased by the U.S. War Department during World War II and became a home for the 7th Ferrying Command of the U.S. Army Air Forces during the war. During the war years, more than 7,500 bombers and fighter aircraft passed through Great Falls on their way to the war fronts in Europe and the Pacific. While using the airport as an air base, the U.S. Army acquired an additional 740 acres (3.0 km2) of land and built many buildings and other facilities. The airport remained under government control until June 1948, at which point the newly-established Department of Defense deeded the airport back to the City of Great Falls with the stipulation that the facility could revert to military control in the event of a national emergency. The airport was released from this clause in 1961.
In 1975, the terminal at Great Falls International Airport was replaced and all runways, aprons, and taxiways updated. With the use of Federal Aviation Administration matching funds, the Great Falls International Airport Authority performs annual operations, maintenance, and capital improvements.[4]
In 2011, the airport recorded its highest number of boardings (172,415) in its history.[1] GTF was the fifth-busiest of the state's 15 major airports in 2011, behind Billings (407,960 enplanements), Bozeman (397,822), Missoula (292,530), and Kalispell (179,034).[5]
In early 2012, Frontier Airlines announced new flights to Great Falls from the Denver hub. Frontier is a low cost airline serving over fifty cities out of their Denver hub. Frontier is consistently amoung the lowest fare airlines in the U.S. as measure by ticket price per average seat mile flown. The Airport Authority hopes to address rising ticket prices and a seasonal shortage of avialable seats with the introduciton of Frontier flights.
AvMax, a Calgary-based large jet maintenance and repair business,opened a large operation at GTF in 2006. They currently employee 150.
[edit] Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines operated by Horizon Air | Helena, Seattle/Tacoma |
| Allegiant Air | Las Vegas, Phoenix/Mesa |
| Delta Connection operated by Compass Airlines | Minneapolis/St. Paul |
| Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines | Salt Lake City |
| Frontier Airlines operated by Republic Airlines | Seasonal: Denver [begins May 17, 2012][6] |
| United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines | Denver |
[edit] Cargo Carriers
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Johnson, Peter. "Great Falls Airline Boardings Up." Great Falls Tribune. May 14, 2011.
- ^ Airport Boardings Study. Aeronautics Division. Montana Department of Transportation. January 2011, p. 1. Accessed 2011-05-15.
- ^ AIR FORCE Magazine (ISSN 0730-6784), July 2009 (Vol. 92, No. 7), pp. 34-41
- ^ http://www.gtfairport.com/Airport_Main.html
- ^ Airport Boardings Study. Aeronautics Division. Montana Department of Transportation. January 2011, p. 2-7. Accessed 2011-05-15.
- ^ http://media.frontierairlines.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5331
[edit] External links
- Great Falls International Airport (official site)
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective 8 March 2012
- Montana Air National Guard
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KGTF
- ASN accident history for GTF
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KGTF
- FAA current GTF delay information
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