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St Petersburg Airport
Airport Directory » United States » Tampa » St Petersburg AirportCoordinates: 27°54′36″N 082°41′15″W / 27.91°N 82.6875°W / 27.91; -82.6875
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport (IATA: PIE, ICAO: KPIE, FAA LID: PIE) is a joint civil-military airport turn up in unincorporated Pinellas County, Florida, 6 land mile (ten kilometre) northward of St. Petersburg, assisting St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and the skirting Tampa Bay Area in the USA.
While most scheduled commercial airline traffic in the Tampa Bay Area uses Tampa International Airport (TPA, 10 land mile (16 kilometre) or 16 kilometre to the east), St. Petersburg-Clearwater stays a destination airport for low-cost and charter bearers, notably several from Canada. Once a focal point town for Largo ground Southeast Airlines, St. Petersburg/Clearwater currently assists as a focal point town for Las Vegas ground bearer Allegiant Air The airport also assists as the gateway airport to Pinellas County.
Because of its smaller pace of functioning, PIE is often used or else of TPA as a destination airport by airplane pilots of private airplanes and executive director jet plane for access to the embayment area .
The airport uses "Pie In The Sky" as an advertizing motto in mention to its three-letter IATA codification.
History
The airport is turn up on the west shoreline of Tampa Bay, 6 land mile (ten kilometre) (ten kilometre) northward of St. Petersburg, Florida (the "place of birth of commercial air transportation system"). Barely a decennium after the open up voyage of the Wright blood brother at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the 1st tickets for air hose move were sold by the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line of Tony Jannus to fare-paying riders. Using a Benoist XIV amphibious aircraft, the inaugural voyage took location from a place near the business district St. Petersburg Pier. Mayor Abram C. Pheil of St. Petersburg and Mae Peabody of Dubuque, Iowa, were the 1st riders, winging across the embayment to Tampa and, consorting to a United Press history, reportedly hitting the maximal velocity of 75 land mile per 60 minute during the voyage. Other describes point that they made an height of 50 human foot (15 m).
This historic event marked the start of commercial air transportation system anyplace in the world and is marked by a reproduction of the Benoist aircraft and a plaque at the airport depot baggage demand area . Another replication is exhibited at the St. Petersburg Museum of History adjacent to the Pier.
Construction and wartime
Construction of the airport at its present location set about in March 1941. After the assail on Pearl Harbor, the airport was get by the U.S. Army Air Force, which used it as a armed forces voyage grooming ground portioned to Third Air Force.
The 304th Fighter Squadron, a armed combat grooming unit of the 337th Fighter Group ground P-40 Warhawks and, after, P-51 Mustangs at Pinellas Army Airfield (as it was then known) for the continuance of World War II. Antisubmarine patrols were also winged from the field.
To mark the airport's vital part during that battle, a plaque was give at the airport depot in 1994 by the P-51 fighter Pilots Association and Brigadier General James H. Howard, who was the only European Theater fighter airplane pilot to be presented the Medal of Honor in WW II and afterward assisted as the last wartime ground commanding officer of Pinellas Army Airfield. A lasting exhibit honour General Howard is turn up in the depot.
Postwar functioning
After World War II, the Airport belonging was returned to Pinellas County by the U.S. authority to function as a commercial airport. It was originally named Pinellas International Airport and given the IATA appellative, PIE, which it still uses. In the 1950s, some air hose furnished service to both PIE and TPA, such as Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, and Northwest Airlines. With the coming of the Jet Age, the airport's landing track was continued north into Tampa Bay and the 1st commercial jet plane service to PIE was functioned by Northwest.
However, the greatly increased seating capacity of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, compared to the little propeller-driven DC-6 and DC-7, propelled the Civil Aeronautics Board to okay the integration of commercial airline service at TPA in the early 1960s. By 1964, Eastern was the last staying air bearer at PIE when it ended service that yr. Until deregulating ensued in new air hose assisting PIE in the 1980s, the airport was used by charters, private planes, and Coast Guard aircraft.
Current field and authority installations
Today, the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport is a 1,900-acre (7.7 kilometretwo) fully-certified installation with ILS-equipped 9,700-foot (3,000 m) landing track and 2 5,500-foot (1,700 m) landing track. It is place of Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, the biggest and busiest U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in the United States, functioning HC-130 Hercules and HH-60J Jayhawk aircraft. The U.S. Army Reserve also back up an Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) at the airport, functioning UH-60 Blackhawk eggbeaters.
Aerial position, Runway 27U.S. Customs and Border Protection , FAA-operated control tower, the Central Florida Region Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS), the busiest in the United States, and the St. Petersburg VORTAC for air duct piloting are also eminent federal authority services at the airport.
Along with scheduled commercial air hose, United Parcel Service, Air Cargo, and General/Corporate Aviation are also major actions. The entire parcel of land of the airport is denominated as a Foreign Trade Zone and a big Airport Industrial Park evolved in the 1980s is a leading centre of mercantilism. The airport and its renters use over 3,000 individuals and have an economical benefit of more than $400 million annual to the Tampa Bay area .
The airport includes a 24-hour airport deliver and fire-fighting (ARFF) section (Index C), installations, functioning, technologist, and administrative force.
Recent developments
In September 2006, Allegiant Air denoted eminent scheduled service from St. Petersburg-Clearwater to destinations in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Since then, Allegiant has turned its destination number to and from PIE to 21 airports across the Eastern US. In February, the Lansing, MI service switched to Grand Rapids, Michigan with 4 weekly voyages.
Also, the airport programmes to pass $9.5 million for redevelopments, including, amongst other things, spreading out the entrance sizes, new plumbing system, and construction burdening spans, as the current system claims all riders to walk across the macadamise to the entrance. The redevelopments are planned to be finished by the finish of 2009.
USA3000 Airlines denoted in May 2008 its discontinuance of all service to the Pinellas County airport efficacious August 18, 2008. The air hose faulted the step up monetary value of jet plane fuel for the determination to stop its 21 weekly voyages to the airport. USA 3000 transported 300,000 riders at the airport in 2007, corresponding 30 percentage of the airport's aggregative airline rider volume. On October 23, 2008, USA3000 denoted recommencement of service get down in December, with non-stop voyages 6 solar days a hebdomad from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD). In a statement, USA3000 stated the determination was due mostly to a recent fall in oil monetary values and in response to the nearly 7,000 missives of back up had press the air hose's return.
Aircraft functioning
For the 12-month time period finish July 30, 2007, the airport had 187,978 aircraft functioning, an mean of 515 per solar day: 84% civil aviation, 8% armed forces, 5% scheduled commercial and 3% air cab. At that clip there were 293 aircraft ground at this airport: 61% single-engine, 11% multi-engine, 12% jet plane, 9% eggbeater and 8% armed forces.
Original article.