Lehigh Valley International Airport
Lehigh Valley International Airport is a domestic airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Parts are in Catasauqua and Allen Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. It is 3 miles northeast of Allentown, and two miles northwest of Bethlehem, in the Lehigh Valley area. It is the fourth busiest airport in the state, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg.
The Federal Aviation Administration National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. In previous years the FAA categorized the airport as a "small hub."
After several years of falling passenger counts in the early 2000s, the airport has lately experienced a significant rebound in passenger totals due to being an alternative to the congested airports in Philadelphia and Newark, airport facility improvements, a rapidly growing regional population, carrier expansions, and multiple new routes being added for popular destinations and major hubs across the country. In 2016 it had 688,505 passengers, an increase of 2.2% from 2015, and In 2018 it had 792,974 passengers. Passenger traffic has experienced 26 consecutive months of steady growth as of November 2019, and the total passenger count for January through November 2019 has already eclipsed 2018's passenger totals for that entire year. Much of this growth has been driven by Allegiant Airlines new base, providing low-cost flights to multiple leisure destinations.
It is becoming popular for the transportation of air cargo due to growth of e-commerce and close proximity to major population centers on the East Coast. As of 2016, it ships more than 126 million pounds of cargo annually with growth of nearly 166% in cargo tonnage shipped between 2015 and 2016. Companies such as Amazon.com are using the airport, a major factor in its growth.
The airport is about from Philadelphia International Airport, from Newark Liberty International Airport, and from Trenton-Mercer Airport.
The airport is a popular diversion airport for flights to the New York metropolitan area.
One of the shortest scheduled jet flights in the contiguous US operates between ABE and PHL. Piedmont Airlines regularly operates an ERJ-145 on the 55-mile route. The average time in the air is 20 minutes. It was the shortest flight in mainland America until 2017 when it was surpassed by Skywest SFO to STS route in 2017 as that route has an average time in the air of 16 minutes.
History
Lehigh Valley International Airport opened in 1929 and is one of the few in the United States 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, a Works Projects Administration 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 were 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 were trained in 1943, and civil and military air traffic had increased. 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 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 been replaced around 2001. Delta started nonstop flights to Atlanta in 1991 and its partner took over in 2002.
In 2012 Frontier Airlines started twice a week nonstop A319 flights to Orlando International Airport; they ended in 2013. Allegiant is now the only airline flying nonstop to Orlando, via the Orlando–Sanford International Airport.
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. Cost: $7,253,235; PENNDOT grant amount: $3 million; general contractor: Lobar, Inc. ; architect: Breslin, Ridyard, Fadero Architects ; square footage of the Phase I project: 24,000 sq.ft., 7,000 sq.ft. of which is new space.
- Phase II. Cost: about $7,225,000; PENNDOT grant amount: $3.5 million; general contractor: E.R. Stuebner Construction, Inc. ; architect: Breslin, Ridyard, Fadero Architects ; square footage of renovated space: 33,600 sq.ft.
Former carriers
- Southeast Airlines
- AirTran Airways
- Air Canada
- Frontier Airlines
Facilities
In the year ending December 31, 2018 the airport had 75,231 aircraft operations, an average of 206 per day: 73% general aviation, 14% commercial airline, 12% air taxi, and <1% military. In May 2020, 137 aircraft were based at the airport: 73 single-engine, 11 multi-engine, 52 jet, and 1 helicopter.
In the year ending March 2020 the airport handled about of freight/mail.
The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority also operates two nearby general aviation airports, Queen City Airport, and Braden Airpark.
Fire Department
Aircraft rescue and firefighting is provided by the LNAA ARFF Department which consists of 7 full-time and 3 part-time personnel, operating from a 13,000 sq.ft. facility commissioned in October 2003.Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Passenger Destinations map
Cargo
uses the Lehigh Valley International Airport as one of only 11 locations in the country for their Amazon Air shipping service. LVIA was one of the first airports selected for the pilot concept of the program due to its close proximity to large population centers, cost-effectiveness, robust infrastructure, and comparative ease of use. This location now ships more merchandise has more flights, and serves more people for Amazon than any other facility in the country. Both Amazon and LVIA continue to invest heavily in the local area to better support the ever-increasing demand for air cargo driven in large part by the explosive growth of e-commerce and the need for faster, more efficient delivery of merchandise.Due to the same aforementioned reasons for Amazon increasing its operations at the airport, FedEx Ground has selected an area near LVIA to construct its largest terminal in the country.
currently has six cargo parking spots for cargo operations.
Cargo Destinations map
Bus service
runs several daily buses from ABE to Manhattan, stopping at both Newark and New York Airports. Travel time to EWR is about 75 minutes.United Airlines also has a bus service to Newark Liberty International Airport. 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. the service was eight times daily. Today, the service is offered 3 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.
LANta provides local bus service to the airport with routes 215, 319, and 325.
Statistics
Annual traffic
Carrier shares
Top destinations
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | Carriers |
| 1 | Orlando/Sanford, FL | 77,740 | Allegiant |
| 2 | Atlanta, GA | 67,600 | Delta |
| 3 | Charlotte, NC | 57,880 | American |
| 5 | Chicago–O'Hare, IL | 54,610 | United |
| 4 | Detroit, MI | 34,810 | Delta |
| 8 | Clearwater, FL | 28,890 | Allegiant |
| 7 | Punta Gorda, FL | 28,310 | Allegiant |
| 9 | Myrtle Beach, SC | 14,220 | Allegiant |
| 10 | Nashville, TN | 10,080 | Allegiant |
Incidents and accidents
- On September 19, 2008, Mesa Airlines Flight 7138, Bombardier CRJ700, was forced to make a high-speed aborted takeoff 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. All 35 passengers and three crew members were uninjured.
- 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 February 3, 2016, Allegiant Air flight 624 from Orlando, an MD-80, blew its rear tires upon landing. All 152 people on board were unharmed.
- On February 14, 2017, a small twin-engine aircraft had made a successful landing on runway 13 after the gear had failed to deploy. The pilot was the only occupant and had survived the crash.