Orlando Sanford International Airport

For the main international airport serving the Orlando area, see Orlando International Airport. For the San Francisco radio station, see KSFB.
Orlando Sanford
International Airport
IATA: SFB – ICAO: KSFB – FAA LID: SFB
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Sanford Airport Authority
Operator Airports Worldwide, Inc.
Serves Orlando, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Location Sanford, Florida
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL 55 ft / 17 m
Coordinates 28°46′40″N 081°14′15″W / 28.77778°N 81.23750°W / 28.77778; -81.23750Coordinates: 28°46′40″N 081°14′15″W / 28.77778°N 81.23750°W / 28.77778; -81.23750
Website orlandosanfordairport.com
Maps

FAA Airport Diagram
SFB
SFB

Location of airport within Florida/United States

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9C/27C 3,578 1,091 Asphalt
9L/27R 11,002 3,353 Asphalt
9R/27L 6,647 2,026 Asphalt
18/36 6,002 1,829 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2015)
Aircraft operations 293,742
Based aircraft 333
Total Passenger 2,480,122

Orlando Sanford International Airport (IATA: SFB, ICAO: KSFB, FAA LID: SFB) is in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. It was built as Naval Air Station Sanford, a Master Jet Base for carrier-based attack and reconnaissance aircraft until 1969.

Due to flight training, the airport is consistently in the top 30 busiest airports in the world in terms of total flight operations (takeoff and landings). It is the Orlando area's secondary commercial airport, but is farther away from downtown Orlando and the major theme parks (Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and SeaWorld Orlando) than the primary airport, Orlando International Airport (MCO/KMCO).

The airport is owned and operated by the Sanford Airport Authority.

Because of that affiliation, passenger traffic at Orlando Sanford International Airport was once dominated by European charter carrier service. However, since 2008 a majority of its passenger traffic has been domestic; this is attributable to the entrance of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air, for which Sanford is a focus city.[2] Sanford was also a small focus city for the travel marketer Direct Air until the company's demise in 2012.

History

Orlando Sanford International Airport started life as Naval Air Station Sanford with the airport codes NRJ and KNRJ. Commissioned on November 3, 1942, the base initially concentrated on advanced land-based patrol plane training. It was used by the U.S. Navy until it closed in 1969.

Orlando Sanford International Airport

The City of Sanford assumed control of the former NAS Sanford in 1969 and renamed the facility Sanford Airport, hiring the air station's recently retired Executive Officer, Commander J. S. "Red" Cleveland, USN (Ret.), as the first Airport Manager. The city concurrently established the Sanford Airport Authority. For the next twenty-five years, the airport was a general aviation facility and periodically hosted civilian/military air shows and static displays. Initially an uncontrolled airfield, the control tower was reactivated in the early 1970s as a non-FAA facility, employing a number of retired enlisted Navy air traffic controllers who had served at NAS Sanford.

Additional name changes followed, to include Sanford Regional Airport, Central Florida Regional Airport, Orlando Sanford Regional Airport and the current Orlando Sanford International Airport. Through the 1980s and 1990s the oldest Navy buildings were demolished while those built in the 1950s and 1960s were renovated for civil use. New buildings and hangars were added.

OLF Osceola was transferred to the control of Seminole County, Florida but was never officially recommissioned as an active airfield. In the 1970s the former OLF began to be used by general aviation drug-smuggling aircraft as a transshipment point. Following a major drug interdiction by local and federal law enforcement agencies, Seminole County placed large speed bumps at various intervals across the runway to deter future illegal use. By the 1980s the county began to use the site as a landfill and dump, demolishing the remaining runways.[3]

In 1992 parts of the action film Passenger 57, starring Wesley Snipes, were filmed at the then-Orlando Sanford Regional Airport, where it represented a small airport in Louisiana. Shortly after filming, a new control tower was built and air traffic control operations assumed by the FAA. The Navy control tower and the large Navy hangar to which it was attached were demolished.

In the mid-1990s a new passenger terminal capable of accommodating jet airliners was built. Charter airlines catering to the heavy British tourist demographic that had previously been using Orlando International Airport were offered greatly reduced landing fees at Sanford, and therefore many carriers relocated their operations.

In 2010 Allegiant Air announced it was moving many flights to the larger and more centrally located Orlando International Airport in order to compete with AirTran Airways. Owing to passenger feedback, all flights have returned to Orlando Sanford.

In 2014 Thomas Cook Airlines moved back to the larger Orlando International Airport after almost a decade of serving Orlando Sanford. Icelandair later moved to Orlando International Airport in 2015.[4]

The airport is home to Aerosim Flight Academy, formerly Delta Connection Academy, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, which provides ab initio flight training for prospective regional airline and international pilots. The Seminole County Sheriff's Office has a hangar and support facility for aviation elements of the agency's Special Operations Division.

Facilities

The airport covers 3,000 acres (1,214 ha) and has four runways:

The dominant runway is 9L/27R. This was built from the naval air station's original Runway 9/27, which was 8,000 ft (2,400 m) x 200 ft (61 m) with overruns of 2,145 ft (654 m) and 1,985 ft (605 m). Runway 9L/27R was recently extended 1,400 ft (430 m) to 11,000 ft (3,400 m). The project was completed on April 1, 2013. Parallel Runways 9C/27C and 9R/27L were built later, the former on a previous taxiway and the latter all-new, for small aircraft. The airport also has Runway 18/36, another Navy runway, for rare northerly fronts in the winter, but this 6000-ft runway is rarely used by airliners.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinationsTerminal
Allegiant Air Akron/Canton (ends February 15, 2017), Allentown, Appleton, Asheville, Austin, Bangor, Belleville/St. Louis, Bloomington/Normal, Burlington (ends March 4, 2017),[5] Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Chattanooga, Chicago/Rockford, Cincinnati, Clarksburg, Cleveland (begins February 16, 2017), Columbus–Rickenbacker, Concord (NC), Dayton, Des Moines, Elmira/Corning, Evansville, Fargo, Fayetteville/Bentonville, Flint, Fort Wayne, Grand Forks, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Greenville/Spartanburg, Harrisburg, Huntington (WV), Indianapolis, Kansas City, Knoxville, Lexington, Little Rock, Memphis, New Orleans, Niagara Falls, Ogdensburg (NY), Oklahoma City, Omaha, Owensboro, Peoria, Pittsburgh, Plattsburgh, Portsmouth (NH), Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, Roanoke, Rochester (NY), San Antonio, San Juan (begins December 14, 2016),[6] Sioux Falls, South Bend, Springfield (IL), Springfield/Branson, Toledo, Trenton, Tri-Cities (TN), Tulsa, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Youngstown/Warren
Seasonal: Bismarck, El Paso, Grand Island, Hagerstown (MD), Laredo, McAllen, Moline/Quad Cities, Shreveport, Wichita 		A, B
Beau Rivage Resorts
operated by Sun Country Airlines[7][8] 		Charter: Gulfport/Biloxi B
Interjet Mexico City A
National Airlines Seasonal: St. John's (ends January 6, 2017)[9] B
Orange Air Seasonal Charter: Punta Cana, San Juan A, B
Surinam Airways Seasonal: Georgetown–Cheddi Jagan, Paramaribo A
Thomson Airways Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol (begins May 7, 2017),[10] East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, London–Stansted, Manchester (UK), Newcastle upon Tyne
Seasonal charter: Lima[7][11] 		A
TUI Airlines Netherlands Amsterdam A
TUIfly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels A
ViaAir Charlotte, Shenandoah Valley (both begin on December 11, 2016)[12] B

Statistics

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from SFB (September 2015 – August 2016)[13]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Cincinnati, Ohio 53,000 Allegiant
2 Allentown, Pennsylvania 48,000 Allegiant
3 Knoxville, Tennessee 39,000 Allegiant
4 Lexington, Kentucky 39,000 Allegiant
5 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 33,000 Allegiant
6 Indianapolis, Indiana 31,000 Allegiant
7 Bangor, Maine 26,000 Allegiant
8 Concord, North Carolina 25,000 Allegiant
9 Plattsburgh, New York 25,000 Allegiant
10 Huntington, West Virginia 25,000 Allegiant

Annual traffic

Annual passenger traffic (enplaned + deplaned) at SFB, 1995 through 2015[2][2]
Year Passengers Year Passengers Year Passengers
20101,165,43520001,086,635
20091,702,4121999939,962
20081,837,24719981,198,803
20071,780,49519971,044,496
20061,645,9891996669,576
20152,480,12220051,649,237199548,186
20142,184,70120041,834,315
20132,032,68020031,253,862
20121,815,72920021,263,662
20111,577,30720011,222,391

Accidents and incidents

References

  1. ↑ FAA Airport Master Record for SFB (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2012-03-31
  2. 1 2 3 "Orlando Sanford International Airport - Annual Passenger Counts". Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Florida, Daytona Beach area. Members.tripod.com (1944-03-15). Retrieved on 2013-07-23.
  4. ↑ Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY (22 October 2014). "Icelandair to switch airports in Orlando". USA TODAY.
  5. ↑ http://www.mychamplainvalley.com/news/allegiant-air-to-halt-service-in-burlington-in-2017
  6. ↑ "Fast-growing Allegiant expands to Puerto Rico and Trenton, N.J.".
  7. 1 2 https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Charters%202015%20as%20of%20December%2016%2C%202015.pdf
  8. ↑ "Orlando Sanford International Airport - Our Destinations". Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  9. ↑ Cooke, Ryan, McCabe, Meghan. National Airlines flight grounded by St. John's Airport Authority CBC, October 30, 2016, Retrieved 2016-10-31
  10. ↑ "More choice, more variety and more local routes for South-West's sun-seakers". Bristol Airport.
  11. ↑ "Around the World Classic 2016". TCS World Travel.
  12. ↑ http://blog.flyviaair.com/viaair-announces-new-flight-service-and-special-99-introductory-fares/
  13. ↑ [http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=SFB&Airport_Name=Sanford,%20FL:%20Orlando%20Sanford%20International&carrier=FACTS> "RITA - BTS - Transtats"]. .transtats.bts.gov. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  14. ↑ Jet With 147 Passengers On Board Makes Emergency Landing – Boston News Story – WCVB Boston
  15. ↑ "Allegiant Jet Moved After Emergency Landing". WESH. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  16. ↑ Jetliner Catches Fire At Sanford Airport – Orlando News Story – WKMG Orlando

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