Boeing Field



Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport, is a public airport owned and operated by King County, five miles south of downtown Seattle, Washington. The airport is sometimes referred to as KCIA, but this is not the airport identifier. The airport has some passenger service, but is mostly used by general aviation and cargo. It is named after the founder of Boeing, William E. Boeing.

The airport's property is mostly in Seattle just south of Georgetown, with its southern tip extending into Tukwila. It covers 594 acres (2.4 km²) and has more than 375,000 operations yearly.

It is in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which called it a primary commercial service airport. Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 34,597 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 35,863 in 2009 and 33,656 in 2010.

History
Except for the World War II period, when it was taken over by the U.S. government, Boeing Field was Seattle's main passenger airport from its construction in 1928 until Seattle-Tacoma International Airport began operations in the late 1940s. The Boeing Company continues to use the field for testing and delivery of its airplanes, and it is still a major regional cargo hub. It is also used by Air Force One when it visits the Seattle area.

The August 1946 OAG shows 24 United Airlines weekday departures, 10 Northwest and two or three Pan Am DC-3s to Juneau via Annette Island.

Boeing Field has no scheduled passenger jet flights (the last were on Hughes Airwest in 1971). A proposal by Southwest Airlines in June 2005 was submitted to King County to relocate from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Boeing Field, but was rejected by King County Executive Ron Sims in October. A similar proposal by Alaska Airlines (a response to the Southwest proposal) was also rejected. Southwest Airlines said it wanted to avoid the heavy fees at Sea-Tac due to its expansion program.

The transfer of ownership of Boeing Field from King County to the Port of Seattle was proposed in 2007 as part of a land swap with land owned by the Port.

Facilities and aircraft
Boeing Field/King County International Airport covers 634 acres (257 ha) at an elevation of 21 feet (6 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt runways: 13R/31L is 10,000 by 200 feet (3,048 x 61 m) and 13L/31R is 3,710 by 100 feet (1,131 x 30 m).

In 2011 the airport had 227,230 aircraft operations, an average of 622 per day: 69% general aviation, 26% air taxi, 5% scheduled commercial, and <1% military. 427 aircraft were then based at this airport: 56% single-engine, 19% multi-engine, 18% jet, 8% helicopter, 1% military, and <1% glider.

Boeing Company
The Boeing Company has facilities at the airport. Final preparations for delivery of Boeing 737 aircraft after the first test flight are made at Boeing Field. Boeing facilities at the airport have also included a paint hangar and flight test facilities.

The initial assembly of the 737 was at Boeing Field in the 1960s because the factory in Renton was at capacity building the 707 and 727. After 271 aircraft, production moved to Renton in late 1970. Production of military airborne early warning and control aircraft based on the 737, such as Project Wedgetail (Australia) aircraft and Peace Eagle (Turkey) aircraft is located at Boeing Field.

Museum of Flight
The Museum of Flight is on the southwest corner of the field. Among the aircraft on display include an ex-British Airways Concorde, loaned to the museum from BA, a supersonic commercial aircraft that landed at Boeing Field on its first visit to Seattle on November 15, 1984. Aircraft movement on the airfield can be easily observed from the museum.

Police and fire response
The King County International Airport contracts with the King County Sheriff's Office for police services. Deputies assigned to the airport wear a mix of both Police and Fire uniforms, turnouts etc., which includes single Police, Fire/ARFF patch, and drive King County International Airport Police patrol cars. There are currently 17 patrol officers/sergeants and one chief assigned full time to the airport. Officers assigned to the airport are also required to obtain a Washington State Fire Fighter One certification and an Emergency Medical Technician certification.

Airlines and destinations
The following airlines offer scheduled passenger flights:

Boeing Field had scheduled passenger flights on West Coast Airlines Douglas DC-9s and Fairchild F-27s to Idaho, Oregon, Washington, northern California, western Montana, northern Utah and to Calgary. West Coast Airlines merged with Pacific Air Lines and Bonanza Air Lines to form Air West (later Hughes Air West) which continued at Boeing Field until it moved to Seattle/Tacoma International Airport in 1971.

At one point Aeroamerica scheduled a Boeing 720 to Spokane.

Helijet, a helicopter airline based at Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia, scheduled Sikorsky S-76s to the Victoria Harbour Heliport in British Columbia and on to Helijet's Vancouver Harbour Heliport near downtown Vancouver, B.C.