Burlington International Airport
Encyclopedia
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
in Chittenden County
Chittenden County, Vermont
Chittenden County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of 2010, the population was 156,545. Its shire town is Burlington. Chittenden is the most populous county in the state, with more than twice as many residents as Vermont's second-most populous county, Rutland.Chittenden County...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is owned by the City of Burlington
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
. The airport is located in South Burlington
South Burlington, Vermont
-Economy:CommutAir, a regional airline, is headquartered in the city, by the airport. The Magic Hat Brewing Company, one of the United States's larger craft breweries, is located here.One measure of economic activity is retail sales...
, three nautical mile
Nautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...
s (6 km
Kilometre
The kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second...
) east of the central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
of Burlington.
As per Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
records, the airport had 640,790 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year
Calendar year
Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day. By convention, a calendar year consists of a natural number of days. To reconcile the calendar year with an astronomical cycle , certain years...
2010, a decrease of 8.5% from the 700,592 enplanements in 2009. This airport is included in the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems
The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. It is developed and maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration . Its purposes are:* to identify all the airports in the U.S...
for 2011–2015, which categorized
FAA airport categories
The United States Federal Aviation Administration has a system for categorizing public-use airports that is primarily based on the level of commercial passenger traffic through each facility. It is used to determine if an airport is eligible for funding through the federal government's Airport...
it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).
History
On Saturday, August 14, 1920, the first aircraft landed at what became the Burlington Municipal Airport. It had been a 72 acres (29.1 ha) cornfield. Airport developers took a lease on the land for one year for $100.On May 22, 1934, at the airport, 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 presented with the keys to the city of Burlington.
With the onset of the Second World War, the United States Government created a Defense Zone extending inland 150 miles (241.4 km) from the coastline, where private aircraft were restricted from operating. Burlington Municipal Airport was located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) outside of the Defense Zone, allowing it to conduct pilot training both locally and from other airports located within the restricted zone, one such example being Boston’s Logan Airport. Due to increased demand, the Burlington Municipal Airport was noted as being the busiest airport in the world on both August 14, 1942 and February 11, 1943, with 662 and 793 landings respectively.
On February 24, 1969, the Board of Aldermen voted to change the airports title from “municipal” to “international” as a means of re-branding the airport and steering it away from the perceptions of it being a small, community-based facility.
In 1970, Mohawk Airlines introduced the first jet service to the airport.
From 2000 to 2008, the airport experienced an increase in growth and service. Since 2000, $24 million in renovations and expansion has been invested at Burlington. In 2008, the airport authority completed a $15 million expansion project which added five gates — four with boarding bridges — and customer service areas, in addition to a 948-space parking garage and an elevated connected walkway.
The airport set a local record in July 2008 when 79,154 passengers flew from Burlington, the first time the figure has crossed 70,000.
BTV enplaned over 759,000 people in 2008, a 7.3% increase from 2007.
Burlington International Airport serves the Burlington-South Burlington metropolitan area
Burlington-South Burlington metropolitan area
The Burlington metropolitan area is a metropolitan area consisting of three counties in northwestern Vermont and anchored by the principal cities of Burlington and South Burlington...
, which contained over 206,000 residents as of 2006 U.S. Census estimates. Due to the relatively small size of the market, airlines mostly fly regional airliner
Regional airliner
A regional airliner or a feederliner is a small airliner designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' hubs from small markets. This class of airliners are typically flown by the regional airlines that are either contracted by or subsidiaries of the...
s on their Burlington routes. A few airlines fly larger jets, such as the Airbus A320 family
Airbus A320 family
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
, to BTV; JetBlue Airways
JetBlue Airways
JetBlue Airways Corporation is an American low-cost airline. The company is headquartered in the Forest Hills neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. Its main base is John F. Kennedy International Airport, also in Queens....
is one such carrier.
In 2008, Big Sky Airlines
Big Sky Airlines
Big Sky Airlines was an American regional airline that operated from 1978 to 2008. Headquartered in Billings, Montana, United States. Big Sky was wholly owned by Big Sky Transportation Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of MAIR Holdings....
stopped flying the Boston route. Management has been searching for a replacement for this important route.
The airport has used natural resources such as marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
and granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, and maple for interior decoration, intended to give the airport a "Vermont Feel". In 2009, the airport had fifteen gates serving seven airlines.
On February 3, 2010 it was announced that AirTran Airways
AirTran Airways
AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of the Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Airlines, is an American low-cost airline headquartered in Orlando, Florida. AirTran operates over 650 daily flights , primarily in the eastern and midwestern United States...
would not be returning to Burlington. Service started in early 2009 on Boeing 717 aircraft operating 55 minute flights from Baltimore, but after only 6 months AirTran demoted BTV to seasonal service, operating only during the summer months. AirTran planned on resuming service in the spring of 2010, but due to various reasons not specified they did not. AirTran service lasted for 8 months in 2009. Southwest Airlines has indicated that it may pick up the route at some point on its Boeing 737 jets.
In 2010, it was announced that Plattsburgh International Airport
Plattsburgh International Airport
-Top Destinations:-References:Other sources:*. Press-Republican, 2005-07-13.*. Press-Republican, 2007-05-30.*. Press-Republican, 2007-12-19.* The Montreal Gazette, 2008-07-05.-External links:*, official site at New York State DOT website...
will receive a federal subsidy to start operating a connection to Boston, thereby attracting the Canadian passengers that Burlington had been relying on. Flights on Cape Air
Cape Air
Hyannis Air Service, Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, Florida, the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic States, Midwest, and Micronesia...
linked Boston and Plattsburgh on Cessna 402
Cessna 402
The Cessna 401 and 402 are series of 6 to 10 place, light twin, piston engine aircraft. This line was manufactured by Cessna from 1966 to 1985 under the name Utiliner and Businessliner...
propeller aircraft, but were dropped in early 2010 in favor of Colgan Air
Colgan Air
Colgan Air, Inc. is an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air are located in Memphis, Tennessee....
flights with larger aircraft.
In 2010, a city-owned cable provider was unable to pay the city of Burlington $17 million it owed. As a result, Moody's downrated the debt for the city. Moody's also downrated the credit rating for the airport, as well. Although voters approved a $21.5 million bond for airport expansion, this downgrade made borrowing the money too expensive. The airport therefore borrowed $7.5 million from the city for a $14.5 million garage expansion. In June 2011, the city asked for the money back.
The airport was in the process of expanding the parking garage by adding two more levels on the north end. This would have given it a total of 2700 parking spaces.
Facilities and aircraft
Burlington International Airport covers an area of 942 acreAcre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (381 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
) at an elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
of 335 feet (102 m) above mean sea level. It has two runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
s: 15/33 is 8,320 by 150 feet (2,536 x 46 m) with an asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
and concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
surface; 1/19 is 3,611 by 75 feet (1,101 x 23 m) with an asphalt surface.
There are two fixed base operator
Fixed base operator
A Fixed-base operator or commonly abbreviated FBO is a term developed in the United States after the passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926...
s at the airport. Each offers services such as de-icing, hangars and customs service for international traffic.
As a Burlington-owned facility, the airport purchases its electricity from the city-owned utility
Burlington Electric Department
The Burlington Electric Department is a municipally-owned electric utility located in Burlington, Vermont. It is the largest municipally-owned electric utility in Vermont. It has over 19,600 customers...
.
In 2009, the Airport Authority sought $45 million for an expansion. If approved by Burlington city voters; it would provide 1,400 additional parking space to add onto the current 3 story, 2,100 spaces garage. It would hold 3,500 cars within 5 stories, with a completion date of late 2010 or early 2011.
For the 12-month period ending April 30, 2010, the airport had 72,189 aircraft operations, an average of 197 per day: 47% general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
, 26% air taxi
Air taxi
An air taxi is an air charter passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis.-Regulation:In the United States, air taxi and air charter operations are governed by Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations , unlike the larger scheduled air carriers which are governed by more...
, 16% scheduled commercial
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
, and 11% military
Military aviation
Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...
. At that time there were 101 aircraft based at this airport: 50% single-engine
Aircraft engine
An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...
, 14% multi-engine, 8% jet
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
, 1% helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
, and 28% military
Military aircraft
A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat:...
.
Military facilities
Two military installations are based there. The first is Burlington Air National Guard BaseBurlington Air National Guard Base
Burlington Air National Guard Base is an Air National Guard installation located in South Burlington, Vermont. It operated from the 1950s until it was closed as Ethan Allen Air Force Base...
, which includes the 158th Fighter Wing
158th Fighter Wing
The United States Air Force's 158th Fighter Wing is a fighter unit located at Burlington International Airport, in Burlington, Vermont.-Mission:...
(158 FW), an Air Combat Command
Air Combat Command
Air Combat Command is a major command of the United States Air Force. ACC is one of ten major commands , reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force ....
(ACC)-gained unit of the Vermont Air National Guard
Vermont Air National Guard
The Vermont Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of Vermont. It is, along with the Vermont Army National Guard, an element of the Vermont National Guard.-158th Fighter Wing:The 158th Fighter Wing was formed in 1946...
, flying the F-16C Fighting Falcon. The 158 FW consists of approximately 1000 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...
personnel, both full-time Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) and Air Reserve Technician (ART) personnel and traditional part-time Air National Guardsmen.
The second installation is an Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) of the Vermont Army National Guard
Army National Guard
Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Army National Guard is part of the National Guard and is divided up into subordinate units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia operating under their respective governors...
, supporting the 1st Battalion, 103d Aviation Regiment and the 86th Medical Company (Air Ambulance).
Airlines and destinations
BTV has flights to airline hubAirline hub
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...
s in the East and Midwest.
The following airlines offer scheduled flights at Burlington Airport:
Top destinations
| Rank | City | Airport | Passengers | Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York, NY | JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North... |
176,000 | JetBlue, Delta |
| 2 | Philadelphia, PA | PHL 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... |
95,000 | US Airways |
| 3 | Chicago, IL | ORD O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop... |
68,000 | United |
| 4 | Newark, NJ | EWR Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States... |
64,000 | Continental |
| 5 | Washington, DC / Arlington, VA | DCA 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... |
56,000 | US Airways |
| 6 | Detroit, MI | DTW 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.... |
50,000 | Delta |
| 7 | Washington, DC / Chantilly, VA | IAD Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. The airport serves the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia metropolitan area centered on the District of Columbia. It is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of... |
47,000 | United |
| 8 | New York, NY | LGA 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... |
31,000 | US Airways |
| 9 | Orlando, FL | MCO Orlando International Airport Orlando International Airport is a major international airport located southeast of the central business district of Orlando. It is the second busiest airport in Florida, after Miami International Airport... |
29,000 | JetBlue |
| 10 | Cleveland, OH | CLE Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is a public airport located nine miles southwest of the central business district of Cleveland, a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The airport lies just within the city limits of Cleveland... |
13,000 | Continental |
Air cargo service
Both major commercial parcel carriers (UPS AirlinesUPS Airlines
UPS Airlines is an American cargo airline owned by United Parcel Service Inc. . The company is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Its home airport is located at Louisville International Airport...
and FedEx Express) fly into BTV, providing service for much of northern Vermont. UPS uses Wiggins Airways
Wiggins Airways
Wiggins Airways is an American fixed base operator, cargo airline, and charter airline based at Manchester, New Hampshire and operating from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.-History:...
to ferry packages between Burlington and larger cargo hubs.
External links
- Burlington International Airport (BTV) at VTrans Aviation
- Aerial image as of 25 April 1999 from USGS The National Map