Faibanks International Airport

Alaska has seen air traffic for many years and in the early days the pilots sat their planes down wherever they needed to. Carl Ben Eielson first flew into Fairbanks in 1923 to start Alaskan Airways. But with no real facilities the various operations used their own temporary structures. Around 1951 Fairbanks International began and a passenger terminal was constructed in 1954. The airport grew as the community grew and there were a couple of major influences that pushed the growth even more. The first was during 1974 through 1977 when the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was under construction. The second was when Japan and Korean Airlines began service of cargo flights which refueled at Fairbanks in 1979. Those larger and heavier aircraft put a big demand on Fairbanks to improve their facilities and runways. For awhile international service has to be discontinued, but in 1990 regularly scheduled service resumed and has been growing ever since with lots on improvements to both the facilities and terminals. Currently 12 domestic, 3 international, and 3 cargo only airlines use the airport.