Retro Airports

[tgibson]

Hi all,

Torston's earlier post reminded me that I was trying to generate a schedule for airports opening (and closing), to match various AI packages that I might put together. Copying and adding to Torston's original list:

1956-61 LIRF Rome Fiumicino (LIRA Ciampino - now mainly low cost carriers, scenery available)
1956-72 KMCI Kansas City Mid-Continent (airline traffic in 1972)(KMKC Municipal, now Wheeler Downtown - now GA)
1961 ESSA Stockholm Arlanda (ESSB Bromma - at first only Linjeflyg, now only Malmo)
1962 KMCO Orlando (KORL Municipal - now Executive)(all jet flights at KMCO)
1963 EGAA Aldergrove (Nutt's Corner - closed)
1965 KGCN Grand Canyon (40G Valle - now GA)
1965 NZAA Aukland (NZWP Whenuapai - now military only)
1967 KSMF Sacramento Metro (KSAC Municipal - now Executive)
1967 SCEL Santiago Benítez (SCTI Los Cerillos - now GA)
1968 KJAX Jacksonville (Imeson (closed))
1969 KIAH Houston Intercontinental (KHOU Hobby)
1970 YMML Melbourne (YMEN Essendon - now GA)
1974 LFPG Paris Charles De Gaulle (LFPO Orly, LFPB Le Bourget - now GA, scenery available)
1975 CYMX Montreal Mirabel (CYUL Dorval - then mostly domestic traffic, now all back at CYUL)
1978 RJAA Tokyo Narita (RJTT Haneda - now regional traffic)
1979 RCTP Taipei Chiang Kai Shek (RCSS Sungshan - now domestic only)
1981 WSSS Singapore Changi (WSAP Paya Lebar - now military only)
1982 ORBS/ORBI Baghdad Saddam/Intl - renamed in 2003 (Z15M Mutherra/Muthenna?, earlier was Baghdad West)
1983 OJAI Amman Queen Alia (OJAM Marka - now regional traffic)
1985 SBGR Sao Paulo Guarulhos (SBSP Congonhas - now domestic only)
1985 WIII Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta (WIIH Halim Perdana - now domestic only)
1988 RJCC Sapporo Chitose (RJCJ Chitose - now military only)
1992 EDDM Munich (EDMR Riem (closed) scenery available)
1994 RJBB Osaka Kansai (RJOO Itami - now domestic traffic)
1995 KDEN Denver Intl (XDEN Stapleton (closed) scenery available)
1998 ENGM Oslo Gardermoen (ENFB Fornebu (closed) scenery available)
1998 VHHH Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok (VHHX Kai Tak (closed) scenery available)
1998 WMKK Kuala Lumpur (WMSA Subang - now domestic only)
2000 LIMC Milan Malpensa (LIML Linate - now mostly domestic)
2001 LGAV Athens Eleftherios Venizelos (LGAT Hellinikon (closed))
2001 RKSI Seoul Incheon (RKSS Gimpo - now domestic and to Tokyo)
2005 RJGG Nagoya Chubu Centrair (RJNN Komaki - J-Air only)
2006 VTBS Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (VTBD Don Mueang - now domestic only)

If anyone has any additions/updates please post them here.

Thanks,

[Christian Page, RAI]

I have done an AFCAD for Jacksonville-Imeson, no buildings, radios, or taxiway designations, but the AFCAD is done for anyone wanting to add to it. Same for Kansas City Fairfax

[chrisP]

With respect to CYMX, that transfer was pretty messy and there were numerous holdouts - Air France for one.. There was no high-speed link btwn CYUL and CYMX and DLH actually states a 150min transfer time btwn int'l and domestic!!!!!.
On top of that, US carriers never left CYUL.

Thank God, sanity has prevailed at last and everybody is back at CYUL!

[braniffops]

Tom...

I was looking through one of my timetables (I think it was a '66 Delta), and noticed that they were actually using both airports (ORL and MCO, at the time McCoy AFB / Orlando International) - Prop service (DC-6, DC-7 and Convair 440) was at ORL, while the jets flew into McCoy.

[chrisP]

LFPB (Paris, Le Bourget) became executive-only in 1977

[Andy]

Tom,

Thanks for this list. it's a great start and I hope to see it expanded. A few notes:

1. KMKC is not totally GA today. Some baseball team charters use this facility rather than the distant KMCI. It easily still accommodates a 757 or A320.

2. Don't forget the obvious KDEN replacing Stapleton in 1995. Stapleton is usually designated XDEN in retro FPs.

3. Just a little on the Houston situation: Shortly after KIAH opened, nearly all of the traffic left KHOU and Hobby began to deteriorate badly (similar to the Chicago situation with Midway). But by the early 1980's people grew tired of driving 50 miles north of Houston to catch a flight, so airlines began to re-populate Hobby, most notably Southwest and Republic (the old Hughes Airwest portion). Houston coughed up money for terminal and parking improvements and by 1990 Hobby was seeing most of the action, with KIAH severely declining. The financial woes of Continental airlines exacerbated this situation as they never left KIAH as their base (along with acquiree Texas Int'l). With the resurgence of Continental, KIAH has become busy again as it now shares the load of Houston traffic with Hobby. The former Ellington AFB is now mainly a cargo terminal but also handles some charter traffic.

4. You've got a kind of a thing going on in LA, too with airports waxing and waning. KSNA has gone from a minor relief airfield for KLAX to a fairly major airport in its own right. KONT has significantly expended especially in cargo operations but also has finally reached its potential as a secondary passenger airport for LAX. KBUR has increased over recent years. KLGB has had an interesting history, picking up some major traffic in the 1980's and then dropping off again, probably due to expansion of KSNA. Jet Blue has brought some significant traffic back to KLGB.

There are a lot of airports on your list that I wasn't aware of. This is neat but it also means a lot of work for me in revising my retro FPs.

Andy

[tgibson]

Hi,

Thanks for the updates; I've incorporated them into the list.

I should provide some caveats to this list:

1. There was often a slow transfer of traffic, especially when jets were introduced. Thus the KMCO-KORL situation.

2. Many times the original airport stayed in operation (KHOU), or even came back into airline operation later (VTBD, ESSA?).

3. While many say things like "now GA", they might have had airline ops earlier.

[tgibson]

Hi,

Just a note to let you know that 1960 Oslo Fornebu and Le Bourget sceneries are available from my site (and have been for a while, sorry).

[chrisP]

So THAT'S where my lost luggage ended up!!!

[rpm]

I believe in 1985 Jakarta - Halim Perdana International (WIIH) was replaced by Soekarno-Hatta International (WIII) as the "main" airport in Jakarta. I think WIIH is now domestic only.

Thanks,
RPM.

[tgibson]

Hi,

Thanks - I had that one listed at home, but hadn't transferred it here. BTW, the airport now has the ID of WIHH, apparently.

[ElliottD]

Another one I thought of there when I was checking out the CalClassic Retro AI (thanks Tom)

RAF Aldergrove airport (EGAA) became civil on 26th September 1963, replacing Nutts Corner Airport (about 3 miles southwest of EGAA). Currently the A26 Road runs through the middle of the former airfield and most of the concrete still exists, I think its used for motorsports, a market, and theres another large building there, (distribution centre or something). You can see the layout even on the Low Res here:

maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Belfast+international+airport&sll=36.137741,-5.345374&sspn=5.029703,11.975098&ie=UTF8&ll=54.627599,-6.150627&spn=0.028172,0.093555&t=h&z=14&om=1

(Cant get the link to work right, paste into address bar it will)

For some reason Typing "Belfast International Airport" into google maps brings up Nutts Corner not aldergrove!

No scenery available, Very few photos etc avaialble anyway from what I see. Brought this up since Its doesnt seem to have much of a mention anywhere.

[tgibson]

Hi,

Thanks for the info - I just finished most of the small airlines in Britain 1961 for my AI package (thanks to scans from Richard Wright) and saw that airport listed. Since Aldergrove was so close I just put the traffic there. Happy to move it if someone wants to build the airport!

I did create a couple of AFCAD's for Lympne and Ipswich, since they aren't in FS. Can't find anything at all at AVSIM for Lympne and the sceneries for Ipswich all require the VFR scenery, which I don't own. Lympne is just a runway and tarmac, since I didn't have the airport layout.

[braniffops]

Someone needs to go in and create an AFCAD for Croyden (London)...

I might be persuaded to do it if I knew where I could find something that had the layout of the airport... ;D

[johnfromoz]

Braniffops - not quite the answer to your question, but didn't John McKeon do a Croydon scenery for the Golden Wings era? The period buildings possibly stayed around for a while, and with an AFCAD and judicious use of EZ scenery, might work as a basis for a post-war period Croydon.