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L.F. Wade International Airport

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Bermuda International Airport (IATA: BDA, ICAO: TXKF), also known as L.F. Wade International Airport, is an airport in Bermuda, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Aerial view of Airport

History

The airfield began life as Kindley Field, a joint US Army Air Forces (USAAF)/Royal Air Force (RAF) base, during the Second World War. The RAF withdrew its forces at the end of the War. The local RAF Commander, however, stayed on, on loan to the Bermuda Government, and converted the RAF facilities into the Civil Air Terminal, operated by the local government. When the pre-War airport, a flying boat facility on Darrell's Island, closed in 1948, Bermuda's air routes were taken over by land planes operating through the airfield, which by then was operated by the United States Air Force, as Kindley Air Force Base. In 1970, the field was transferred to the United States Navy, which operated it as US Naval Air Station, Bermuda until 1995 when the US Navy terminated its 99-year lease and the field was transferred to the Bermuda Government, which now operates the airport as part of the Ministry of Tourism & Transport.

The US Navy was not required to meet international civil air standards, despite the operation of civil airlines to the base. The Bermuda Government, however, was required to meet these standards very quickly on assuming control, and at some expense. This involved changes to the airfield lighting, erecting new fences, levelling anything over a certain height and within a certain distance of the runway (including the former base commander's residence, and the hill it stood on), and other changes.

The airport is located at the west of St. David's Island, and to the south of Ferry Reach. This places it in the East End of the archipelago, several miles from the current capital, Hamilton.

The airfield was constructed between 1941 and 1943 by levelling Longbird Island and several smaller islands, and filling in the waterways between them and St. David's Island. This created a landmass contiguous with St. David's, and the airfield is typically described as being in, or on, St. David's. The field originally had three runways, but only the longest is still in use. One of the others, most of which lies on a narrow peninsula, which juts into Castle Harbor, has been blocked by munitions bunkers that were built at the harbor end. There are further bunkers on the west side of the peninsula, and the US Navy had referred to the area as the Weapons Pier. Airport workers, today, refer to it as The Finger. The other former runway is used today as a taxiway to connect aprons one and two to the active runway, and the taxiway which parallels it. This was last used as a runway in 1978. It has its own former taxiway parallelling it, which now serves as a dispersal area for visiting aircraft.

On 16 April, 2007, the airport was formally renamed "The L.F. Wade International Airport" in honour of L. Frederick Wade, a past leader of the incumbent Governing party (the Progressive Labour Party) when it was in opposition.[1] The name was criticised by the opposition United Bermuda Party for being politically biased.[2]

Aerial view of Terminal

Current operations

In 2006, the airport handled almost one million passengers and had 258 airline flight arrivals and departures weekly during the peak June - August summer season.

The former NATO hangar built in the early 1990's is now used for the airport's growing corporate jet traffic. Because of Bermuda's considerable distance from the nearest land mass, the airport's use by General Aviation aircraft is limited to jets and long-range turboprops. Only jet fuel is available.

The airport offers U.S. Customs and Immigration preclearance, which means U.S.-bound passengers clear Customs in Bermuda; flights arriving in the U.S. from Bermuda are thus treated as domestic flights.

Air traffic control service is provided by BAS-Serco under contract to the DAO. The control tower is located on the north side of the airport (not to be confused with the old tower located at the terminal building) and provides service for most of the day and night. Approach, departure and enroute traffic control in the surrounding Oceanic Sector is provided by New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZNY), under an agreement between the U.S. Government's Federal Aviation Administration and the United Kingdom. The BDA tower controller and ZNY center controller are always in close contact. Remote radio transmitters and air traffic radar coverage at the airport also link Bermuda and New York Center.

A modern Doppler Weather Radar with a 150 mi. range was built by the DAO in 2005. Navaids at the airport, such as the Instrument Landing System (ILS) and VOR (VHF omnidirectional range) are owned by the DAO but maintained by the FAA.

Terminal ramp

Airport agencies

  • Department of Airport Operations (DAO) the airport operating authority - part of the Ministry of Tourism & Transport.
  • Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) responsible for aircraft registration, safety regulation, and accident investigation - part of the Ministry of Tourism & Transport.
  • Bermuda Immigration and Customs
  • US Customs and Border Protection, pre-clears passengers on most flights to USA.
  • Airport Rescue Firefighting (ARFF), operated by SERCO under contract to the DAO
  • Bermuda Fire Service, East-end station sits astride perimeter, and provides support to ARFF.
  • Airport Security Police, enforces airside regulations and security under contract to the DAO.
  • Bermuda Police Service, enforces landside parking and traffic regulations, and holds arrested persons.
  • Bermuda Weather Service, operated by Serco under contract to the DAO.

Airlines

See also

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
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