Spokane International Airport

"GEG" redirects here. For the Geg Albanian dialect, see Gheg Albanian.

Spokane International Airport Geiger Army Airfield
Spokane International Airport in 2010, viewed from the south
IATA: GEG ICAO: KGEG FAA LID: GEG
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Spokane County & City of Spokane
Operator	Spokane Airport Board
Serves	Inland Northwest
Location	Spokane, Washington, USA
Hub for	Horizon Air
Elevation AMSL	2,385 ft / 727 m
Coordinates	47°37′12″N 117°32′02″W
Website	SpokaneAirports.net
Map
KGEG Location of Spokane International Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 3/21 11,002 3,353 Asphalt/Concrete 7/25 8,199 2,499 Asphalt
Statistics (2012)
Cargo 61,366 Passengers 3,005,315
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Spokane International Airport (IATA: GEG, ICAO: KGEG, FAA LID: GEG) is a commercial airport located approximately 5 miles (8 km) west of downtown Spokane. It is the primary airport serving the Inland Northwest, which includes areas such as Spokane, Eastern Washington, Coeur d'Alene, and North Idaho. It is the second largest airport in Washington, serving roughly 3 million passengers annually.

History

World War II Geiger Field Postcard

Geiger Field in 1943

Known as Sunset Field before 1941, it was purchased from the county by the War Department and renamed Geiger Field after Major Harold Geiger, an Army aviation pioneer who died in a crash in 1927.

During World War II, Geiger Field was a major training base by Second Air Force as a group training airfield for B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment units, with new aircraft being obtained from Boeing near Seattle. It was also used by Air Technical Service Command as an aircraft maintenance and supply depot; Deer Park Airport and Felts Field were auxiliaries.

Geiger was closed in late 1945 and turned over to War Assets Administration (WAA), then transferred to Spokane County and developed into a commercial airport. The airport hosted USAF Air Defense Command interceptor units during the Cold War for air defense of Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Grand Coulee Dam. Built in 1942 as the Spokane Air Depot, Fairchild Air Force Base is four miles (7 km) to the west.

It became Spokane's municipal airport in 1946, replacing Felts Field, and received its present name in 1960, after the City of Spokane was allotted Spokane Geiger Field by the Surplus Property Act. The airport code is still GEG, for Geiger Field.

Modern era

Terminal A/B complex originally opened in 1965

The current Terminal A/B complex opened in 1965 and was designed by Warren C. Heylman and William Trogdon.

Occasional non-stop flights to southern California since the 1970s have been among the first to be suspended during economic downturns.

Growth and expansion

A second level was added to Concourse A and Concourse B in 1974.

The airport has a Master Plan, which includes a third runway and gates added to Concourse C.

A new control tower has been built south of the airport, replacing the one near Concourse C. The new control tower is the tallest one in the State. The Terminal, Rotunda, and Concourse C Enhancement Project (TRACE) was recently completed, designed by Bernardo/Wills Architects, P.C. The project, which concluded in November 2006, added retail space and expanded security checkpoints in the airport's three concourses, and gave the Rotunda an aesthetic renovation. In 2010, 2000 feet was added to Runway 3–21, and parallel taxiways 'A' and 'G' enabling heavier aircraft departures in summer months.

The airport plans to add another concourse in the next 5–10 years and looks to add more direct flights to the east coast; the Spokane market has been hosting big events and attracting business to the area.

Terminals

The passenger terminal facility at Spokane International Airport consists of three main structures; Terminal A/B in the center, Terminal C to the southwest, and the Ground Transportation Facility to the north. The three structures are immediately adjacent and connected to one another, however the two terminals are not currently linked with an airside connector on the sterile side; as such, connecting passengers need to transit between the terminals through the landside, non-sterile circulation.

Terminal A/B

Entrance to the Terminal A/B ticketing area.

View of the Rotunda in Terminal A/B

Terminal A/B consists of two concourses; Concourse A which has 5 gates (11-15), and Concourse B with 8 gates (1–8). The two concourses are connected by a central rotunda area with dining and shopping vendors.

The terminal originally opened in 1965 and was designed by Warren C. Heylman and William Trogdon. Designed to the Neo-Expressionism style, the building's architecture prominently features exposed concrete as well as distinct sculpted and monolithic architectural shapes and forms. However, as the airport has continued to incrementally expand through its modern history, some of the original architectural intent of the Terminal A/B complex has been lost. While several expansions to the terminal matched and extended the original architectural style of the building, others additions have altered the original architecture. In 1974, a second floor was added to both Concourses A and B to allow for the implementation of passenger boarding bridge access to aircraft. The new floors, while sharing some material commonality with the original Heylman and Trogdon terminal, lacked the curvy and sculpted neo-expressionistic forms found in the former. The later additions of the ground transportation facility and Concourse C to the ends of the terminal building further altered the original architecture by replacing its distinct bookend elevations and entrances with corridors to the adjacent buildings. Interior renovations in the mid-2000s also removed a large amount of the original sculpted forms and monolithic materials of the Terminal A/B complex, replaced in favor of more rectilinear forms and contemporary finish materials. Despite this, a number of original architectural elements remain and are largely integral to the space today (such as the exposed concrete roof trusses and concrete columns), creating a juxtaposition between the newer elements and the original architecture.

Airlines

• Southwest
• Delta
• United
• American

Terminal C

Terminal C

Terminal C houses Concourse C which has 9 gates (21-26 and 30-32). The current iteration of Terminal C opened in 2000 after a $20 million redevelopment and expansion project. The project, which broke ground in 1998 added 80,000 square feet to the concourse including a new baggage claim and two-story passenger facility. The existing 11,000 square foot concourse was remodeled into service and operations functions. The new Terminal C was designed with a more contemporary architectural style, contrasting the appearance of the Terminal A/B complex, by employing a large use of metal cladding and large curtain window walls on its exterior building envelope. However, it does draw some inspiration from its neo-expressionist neighbor by architecturally expressing a modular, repetitive, and exposed structural grid through its façade and interior lobby areas.

Alaska Airlines is the primary occupant of Concourse C, but there is available gate and ticket counter space for additional airlines to occupy, as was the case when Frontier Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines operated out of the terminal in the mid-2000s and 2010s.

Airlines

• Alaska

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Delta Connection CRJ-700 taxis to the Concourse B Gate B6 at Spokane International Airport.

United Express ERJ-170 taxis towards the active runway at Spokane International Airport.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 seen at Concourse B Gate B8 at Spokane International Airport.

Airlines	Destinations	Concourse
Alaska Airlines	Seattle/Tacoma Seasonal: Anchorage (begins June 11, 2016)	C
Alaska Airlines operated by Horizon Air	Boise, Portland (OR), Seattle/Tacoma	C
American Airlines	Phoenix	B
Delta Air Lines	Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City	B
Delta Connection	Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Seattle/Tacoma Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul	B
Southwest Airlines	Boise, Denver, Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix Seasonal: Chicago–Midway	A
United Airlines	Denver	B
United Express	Denver Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare	B

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Airpac Airlines	Seattle–Boeing
Ameriflight	Ephrata, Lewiston, Portland (OR), Seattle–Boeing, Tri–Cities (WA), Wenatchee, Yakima
FedEx Express	Indianapolis, Memphis, Oakland
FedEx Feeder operated by Empire Airlines	La Grande, Lewiston, Moses Lake, Pendleton, Vancouver, Wenatchee, Yakima
UPS Airlines	Dallas/Fort Worth, Des Moines, Louisville, Portland (OR), Seattle–Boeing, Vancouver
Western Air Express	Boise, Portland (OR)

Statistics

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from GEG (Dec 2014 – Nov 2015)

Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Seattle/Tacoma, Washington	526,000	Alaska, Delta
2	Denver, Colorado	185,000	Southwest, United
3	Portland, Oregon	165,000	Alaska
4	Salt Lake City, Utah	128,000	Delta
5	Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota	123,000	Delta
6	Phoenix, Arizona	111,000	Southwest, US Airways
7	Las Vegas, Nevada	83,000	Southwest
8	Oakland, California	81,000	Southwest
9	Boise, Idaho	53,000	Alaska, Southwest
10	Los Angeles, California	26,000	Delta

Airline market share

Largest Airlines at GEG
(Sep. 2014 – Aug. 2015)

Rank	Airline	Passengers	Share
1	Horizon Air	830,000	27.76%
2	Southwest Airlines	732,000	24.48%
3	Delta Air Lines	409,000	13.68%
4	Alaska Airlines	398,000	13.32%
5	SkyWest Airlines	232,000	7.77%

Annual traffic

Annual passenger traffic (enplaned + deplaned) at GEG, 1990 through 2014

Year	Passengers	Year	Passengers	Year	Passengers	Year	Passengers
		2010	3,181,616	2000	3,068,890	1990	1,619,880
		2009	3,055,081	1999	3,041,626
		2008	3,422,110	1998	2,949,833
		2007	3,471,901	1997	3,043,238
		2006	3,224,423	1996	3,258,762
		2005	3,197,440	1995	2,988,575
2014	2,986,652	2004	3,059,667	1994	2,687,482
2013	2,926,858	2003	2,789,499	1993	2,329,953
2012	3,005,664	2002	2,745,788	1992	1,855,954
2011	3,072,572	2001	2,880,186	1991	1,589,123

Ground transportation

Spokane Transit operates two stops at Spokane International Airport, with bus route 60 connecting the airport to Downtown Spokane. Transfer opportunities are available in downtown to the rest of the STA system. The airport is also served by the WSDOT's Gold Line, which provides twice-daily bus service to cities north of Spokane, including Deer Park, Chewelah, Colville, and Kettle Falls.

A consolidated rental car facility is located adjacent to the ground transportation center on the north end of the main terminal. The consolidated facility opened in November 2008, replacing several satellite operations, and is intended to meet passenger growth at the airport for 20 years after its opening.

Accidents and incidents

• On January 21, 1981 a Beechcraft Model 99A, Cascade Airways flight 201, crashed into a hill 4.5 miles from the runway. The accident was caused by an incorrect distance measuring equipment frequency, and premature descent to minimum descent altitude. Of the nine people on board, seven were killed (including both pilots), and the other two passengers were seriously injured. The airline ceased operations about five years later.
• On March 18, 1994, Douglas DC-3C N3433Y of Salair crashed shortly after take-off on a cargo flight to Portland International Airport. The starboard engine failed shortly after take-off. The engine that failed had previously been in long-term storage and had been overhauled the previous year and fitted to the aircraft on February 21, replacing an engine that developed a misfire and loss of power. It had accumulated 15 hrs flight time at the time of the accident. The aircraft was destroyed in the subsequent fire and both crew were killed.

See also

• Washington World War II Army Airfields
• Western Air Defense Force (Air Defense Command)
• 9th Air Division

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

External links

• Spokane International Airport, official site
• Spokane International Airport at WSDOT Aviation
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective September 5, 2024
• FAA Terminal Procedures for GEG, effective September 5, 2024
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KGEG
  • ASN accident history for GEG
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KGEG
  • FAA current GEG delay information