Lehigh Valley International Airport

History

Lehigh Valley International Airport opened in 1929 and is one of the very few in the United States of America that serves its community from its original location. Scheduled airline flights began on September 16, 1935 by United Airlines Boeing 247s. The airport hangar served as the passenger terminal; the first terminal building at the airport was built in 1938 as a Works Projects Administration (WPA) project.

During World War II the U. S. Navy V-5 flight training program was conducted at the airport in conjunction with ground training held at Muhlenberg College. In addition, Headquarters of Group 312 of the Civil Air Patrol was at Allentown–Bethlehem Airport. One of its activities was to provide a courier service for cargo defense plants. Allentown CAP pilots also patrolled the Atlantic coastline, and was active in recruiting young men for the air cadet program of the Army Air Force.

By January 1944 work on a new runway was completed and a Class A United States Weather Bureau station had been installed. About 1,000 Naval Aviation Cadets had been trained during 1943, and a large increase in the amount of civilian and military air traffic had occurred. In late July, the War Production Board approved the construction of a second story addition to the administration building. The building housed the Lehigh Aircraft Company, the weather bureau station, the Civil Aeronautic communications station, and the office and waiting room of United Air Lines. In August, the V-5 flight training program ended when the Navy decided to move all flight training to naval air bases under Navy pilots.

In April 1946 the Lehigh Airport Authority was created to own and manage the airport. The October 1946 C&GS diagram shows four runways forming an asterisk: runway 1 was 2680 ft long, 6 was 4000 ft, 9 was 3800 ft and 14 was 3100 ft.

A new passenger terminal began construction in 1948 and was finished in 1950. Allentown–Bethlehem–Easton (ABE) airport, as it was now called, had flights on United, Trans World Airlines since 1947, and Colonial Airlines since 1949–50. DC-4s and DC-6s appeared after runway 6 was extended to 5,000 ft. TWA left in 1967, replaced by Allegheny; Colonial's successor Eastern remained until 1991. Republic DC-9 nonstop flights to Detroit started in 1986; regional partners replaced successor Northwest around 2003, as United's nonstop flights to Chicago had likewise been replaced around 2001. Delta started nonstop flights to Atlanta in 1991 and its partner took over in 2002.

In 1960 Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy made campaign stops at ABE.

Construction began on the present terminal in 1973 and the project, designed by Wallace & Watson, was completed in 1976.

The most recent Terminal Renovations were done in two phases.

Phase I (April 2009). Cost: $7,253,235; PENNDOT grant amount: $3,000,000; general contractor: Lobar, Inc. (Dillsburg, PA); architect: Breslin, Ridyard, Fadero Architects (Allentown, PA); square footage of the Phase I project: 24,000 sq.ft., 7,000 sq.ft. of which is new space.

Phase II (November 2010). Cost: about $7,225,000; PENNDOT grant amount: $3,500,000; general contractor: E.R. Stuebner Construction, Inc. (Reading, PA); architect: Breslin, Ridyard, Fadero Architects (Allentown, PA); square footage of renovated space: 33,600 sq.ft.

Facilities and aircraft

The airport covers 2,629 acres (1,064 ha) at an elevation of 393 feet (120 m). It has two asphalt runways: 6/24, 7,600 by 150 feet (2,316 x 46 m) and 13/31, 5,797 by 150 feet (1,767 x 46 m). The airport has nine gates to service the passengers. The airport has five holding spots for cargo aircraft. Mainly Boeing 757 cargo aircraft fly in and out of the airport for FedEx along with Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767s.

Fire Department

Aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) is a special category of firefighting that involves the response, hazard mitigation, evacuation, rescue and emergency medical response to airport emergencies. Airport firefighters have advanced equipment and training in the application of firefighting foams, dry chemical and clean agents used to extinguish aviation fuels.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandates ARFF operations at all U.S. airports that serve scheduled passenger air carriers. The LNAA ARFF Department is a group of highly dedicated and trained staff that consists of 7 full-time and 3 part-time personnel.

Commissioned on October 2003, the 13,000sq.ft. state-of-the-art ARFF facility is a very functional and professional addition to the airport. The selected building site yields the quickest response time to each of the existing runway ends and to the terminal building. The site is also strategically located to serve a future parallel Runway 6/24. The facility can be seen by passengers in the concourses and in arriving and departing aircraft.

The airport website says in 2012 the airport had 100,048 aircraft operations. Itinerant Operations include 30,914 general aviation, 17,241 Regional Airlines, 4,249 Major Airlines and 608 military. 47,036 were by local aircraft.

Passenger

Allegiant uses the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 on all routes to Florida. On some select flights, Allegiant uses their Airbus A320-200.

American Eagle uses the Bombardier CRJ200 and, Bombardier CRJ900 on their route to Charlotte. American Eagle also uses the deHavilland Canada Dash 8 300 series on their route to Philadelphia.

Delta Airlines uses their Boeing 717 on their flight to Atlanta which only operates one service a day in the morning with a flight number of (DL 719). The flight that returns the Boeing 717 for its morning flight is (DL 700).

Delta Connection uses their Bombardier CRJ200 on their flights to Detroit and Atlanta.

United Express uses the Embraer ERJ-135 on their flight to Chicago-O' Hare.

1. REDIRECT Sun Country

operates charters ( about once a month ) to various destinations for military and civilian transport.

The airport is a popular diversion airport for flights going to the New York metropolitan area.

Cargo

((FedEx Feeder))- (( Same as FedEx Express fleet ))

(ABE) currently has five cargo parking spots for cargo operations.

Air Transport International uses the Boeing 767-200 to all the destinations that serve the Lehigh Valley International Airport. Amazon Prime Air uses the Boeing 767-300F. Fedex normally serves (ABE) by the Boeing 757, but during the holiday rush Fedex Express uses the Airbus A300. For other flights, FedEx uses their feeder fleet of Caravan 208Bs

Bus service

United Express also has a bus service to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Continental Airlines, which later merged into United, previously operated flights from Allentown to Newark but switched to a bus service in 1995 due to constant delays from air traffic control. The distance is 79 miles (127 km). As of 1997 the service was eight times daily. By February 2010 the bus was the only form of service offered by Continental after it cancelled its Allentown to Cleveland Hopkins Airport flights.

Incidents and accidents

On September 19, 2008, Mesa Airlines Flight 7138, Bombardier CRJ700, was forced to make a high-speed aborted take off and swerve in order to avoid a collision with a Cessna 172 that had yet to exit the runway after landing. There were no fatalities or injuries.

On November 16, 2008, US Airways Flight 4551, a US Airways Express de Havilland Dash 8 turboprop operated by Piedmont Airlines, took off from Lehigh Valley International Airport at 8:20 am heading to Philadelphia International Airport, and then had to make an emergency landing. The flight crew indicated that the front nose gear had not come down, and the plane had to make a flyover over the runway for confirmation. Of 35 passengers and three crew, there were no injuries.

On June 27, 2009, Allegiant Air Flight 746, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft made an emergency landing after flames were observed coming from the aircraft's left engine. The flight was bound for Orlando Sanford International Airport. During takeoff one of the aircraft's tires had shredded and a piece was sucked into the engine, causing it to fail and momentarily catch on fire. The airliner landed safely minutes later with no injuries reported.

On Valentine's Day, 2017 ( February 14th ) a small twin engine plane attempted to make an emergency landing due to a landing gear failure. The plan successfully landed, the plane's sole occupant was not injured.