Business Aviation Airports: A Contrast to the Commercial Airline Hubs

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  • The nation’s air transportation system is made up of approximately 5,300 public-use airports.
  • The commercial airlines serve about 550 of these facilities – fewer than 11 percent. The busiest airports handle the majority of all airline passengers.
  • Most operators of business aircraft do not use the busiest commercial airports, preferring instead to fly in and out of “reliever” airports, which often are not served by commercial airlines. The ability to use these smaller, less-congested facilities is key to the value and flexibility of business aviation aircraft.
  • As a result, business aviation operations at the nation’s 20 busiest hub airports account for less than 3 percent of total activity.
TOP 20 U.S. AIR CARRIER
AIRPORTS IN 2009
Rank Airport State
1 Atlanta Hartsfield Int'l (ATL) GA
2 Chicago O'Hare Int'l (ORD) IL
3 Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) TX
4 Denver Int’l (DEN) CO
5 Los Angeles Int'l (LAX) CA
6 Phoenix Sky Harbor Int'l (PHX) AZ
7 Las Vegas McCarran Int'l (LAS) NV
8 John F. Kennedy Int’l (JFK) NY
9 Charlotte/Douglas Int’l (CLT) NC
10 Seattle-Tacoma Int’l (SEA) WA
11 Miami Int'l (MIA) FL
12 Minneapolis-St Paul Int’l (MSP) MN
13 San Francisco Int’l (SFO) CA
14 Orlando Int’l (MCO) FL
15 Newark Liberty Int’l (EWR) NJ
16 Philadelphia Int’l (PHL) PA
17 Houston Intercontinental (IAH) TX
18 Detroit Metro (DTW) MI
19 Memphis Int’l (MEM) TN
20 Baltimore/Washington Int’l (BWI) MD
TOP 20 U.S. GENERAL AVIATION
AIRPORTS IN 2009
Rank Airport State
1 Van Nuys (VNY) CA
2 Daytona Beach Int’l (DAB) FL
3 Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT) AZ
4 Long Beach (LGB) CA
5 Richard Lloyd Jones Jr (RVS) OK
6 Montgomery Field (MYF) CA
7 Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE) FL
8 Falcon Field (FFZ) AZ
9 Boeing Field (BFI) WA
10 Kendall-Tamiami (TMB) FL
11 Centennial (APA) CO
12 Wayne-Orange County (SNA) CA
13 Republic (FRG) NY
14 Dekalb-Peachtree (PDK) GA
15 McClellan-Palomar (CRQ) CA
16 Westchester County (HPN) NY
17 Gillespie Field (SEE) CA
18 Teterboro (TEB) NJ
19 Hanscom Field (BED) MA
20 Scottsdale (SDL) AZ