Port Columbus International Airport

The Port Columbus International Airport is the main airport for the city of Columbus, the capital city of Ohio, USA. Located about six miles east of the downtown district of Columbus, the Port Columbus International Airport is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority and handles nearly seven million passengers every single year. Its IATA airport code, "CMH," stands for Columbus Municipal Hangar, a name for the airport no longer in use by the airport or by airport authorities.

The Port Columbus International Airport offers flights today to other major airports all over the country, allowing the inhabitants of Columbus and nearby cities and towns easy and relatively inexpensive travel anywhere in the United States - and, by extension, the world - through a local state of the art airport facility. The Port Columbus International Airport is, in fact, the largest passenger airport in the entire region of central Ohio. The Port Columbus International Airport is the second busiest airport in the entire state of Ohio after the only one larger, the main airport of Cleveland, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

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As the second busiest airport in the entire state of Ohio, the Port Columbus International Airport can be expected to get quite a lot of traffic, from heavily laden cargo planes to mail planes to military craft to, of course, the ubiquitous passenger airliners. Presently, the Port Columbus International Airport provides over 190 non-stop flights to forty-four different airports daily. The Port Columbus International Airport services fifteen airlines, all of which get a healthy chunk of the business offered to the Port Columbus International Airport by travelers, mail services, and the other sorts of people and items which choose, or find it necessary, to travel quickly by air rather than on the ground.

The Port Columbus International Airport recently added both Skybus Airlines and JetBlue, and since then traffic has been on the upswing, and a rather sharp upswing at that. In the first seven months of 2007, the Port Columbus International Airport has seen a rise of 13.4% in overall traffic, and a 23% hike in passenger traffic when compared to July of 2006. In 2006, for instance, the Port Columbus International Airport moved 6,733,990 passengers through its doors and gates - for 2007, airport management is predicting at least eight million passengers. The Port Columbus International Airport also handles mail and parcels, of course - over ten million units of freight and eight and a half million units of mail passed through the Port Columbus International Airport throughout the year of 2006.

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The Port Columbus International Airport is built using a basic two-runway system to allow swift takeoffs and landings, and a maximum in efficiency with flight operations. These two runways are managed by trained flight managers and monitored at all times by state of the art computer software that the Port Columbus International Airport utilizes from its primary control tower. Its that double runway system and advanced technology that allow the Port Columbus International Airport to field as many aircraft a day as it does - over one hundred and ninety non-stop flights all around the country.

The longest runway, at a direction of 10R/28L, is 3086 meters long, with an asphalt surface. That kind of length is more than sufficient to land nearly every kind of aircraft in today's skies, from the smallest single-engine plane to the enormous jumbo jets and cargo planes to advanced fighter craft. The two runways are parallel to each other, though they are used in reverse - in other words, the south runway (the long one) is 10R/28L, while the north runway, at 2438 meters, is 10L/28R. This allows a maximum of flexibility for takeoffs no matter what the prevailing wind. For a while, the south runway was the longest runway in the Midwest. This was in 1952, when that runway was extended to 2400 meters.

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A survey was taken of the Port Columbus International Airport in 2005 to see what exactly that airport has been used for. While this survey is not precisely indicative of aircraft percentages today, the numbers are certainly close enough to provide the casually interested with a very good idea of the general usage statistics of the Port Columbus International Airport in modern times. If you're interested in getting more recent figures, you may want to contact the management of the airport itself. The Port Columbus International Airport is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, and their contact information is available online.

In 2005, the Port Columbus International Airport had 216,724 different aircraft operations, or an average of 593 every single day. Of those, 46% involved passenger aircraft or "air taxis." Twenty-nine percent of those operations were general aviation, and 24% were scheduled commercial operations. Of that entire number, only one percent involved military aircraft - the Port Columbus International Airport is not one that is highly used or valued by the United States Air Force.

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If you plan on going into Columbus or anywhere else in Ohio from where you deplane at the Port Columbus International Airport, you're going to have to look at the transportation services offered by the Port Columbus International Airport and local transportation business owners. Unlike major airports at many large cities, the Port Columbus International Airport offers no rail services in or out of its boundaries, so you'll have to rely on car, bus, or taxi to get you where you need to go or to get back out to the airport to catch your flight.

Fortunately, all those services are highly reliable at the Port Columbus International Airport. The Port Columbus International Airport offers long term parking for residents of Columbus traveling to other parts of the country or the world, and also offers a variety of rental car services for the visitor wishing to have a vehicle of his or her own to travel around the city of Columbus and the surrounding environment of Ohio. If you don't want to rent a car, you can always get a taxi or a bus ride around the city and the state. In fact, the Port Columbus International Airport even offers an airport shuttle, leaving every twenty minutes, to transport passengers to downtown Columbus.

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There are three main concourses at the Port Columbus International Airport, creatively labeled "A," "B," and "C." The first concourse, concourse A, has seven gates and services two main airlines - Continental and Southwest, each with three gates. Gate A1 is used for various other purposes. Concourse B has 25 gates, and is used for several more airlines including American, Northwest, Air Canada, Skybus, United, and US Airways. Of all of the Port Columbus International Airport's concourses, B is the largest - Concourse C only has 12 gates, and services Delta, JetBlue, and USA 3000 Airlines. These three concourses act as the arteries through which all the Port Columbus International Airport's thousands of passengers travel through their corridors each year on their way to places across the country and around the world.

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The Port Columbus International Airport acts as a connecting point for quite a large number of national airlines, as well as at least one international one (Air Canada). The first major airline to make use of the Port Columbus International Airport was TWA, which made use of the Port Columbus International Airport for almost seventy years; until, America West bought the last TWA gate as well as the exclusive TWA club due to financial reasons in year 2000.

America West, in fact, made the Port Columbus International Airport its hub in the 1990s, and prospered for some time in the transportation boom of that decade. After the September 11th attacks, however, sales dropped catastrophically and America West, undergoing severe financial difficulties, was forced to close the Columbus hub in 2003.

Now, the only airline the Port Columbus International Airport is actually a home base for is Skybus Airlines, which began operations less than a year ago, on May 22 of 2007. Skybus' claim to fame is that it is ostensibly the cheapest airline in the United States - its company policy is to have at least ten seats for only $10 on every flight it runs. It remains to be seen whether this revolutionary new policy will have an actual positive effect on airline sales, but if it does, it could have revolutionary consequences for airline travelers across the country.

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Management at the Port Columbus International Airport is currently very optimistic about the future of the airport. Passenger levels are on the rise, soaring upwards on a curve, and the management is currently considering ways of expanding the airport in order to facilitate a greater level of passenger flow. That includes enhancing the baggage handling system, adding restrooms, making the security checkpoints more efficient and better able to handle large numbers of people, and adding concessions. These changes are currently predicted to be in place by as early as 2012.

The external structure of the airport is undergoing changes as well. Those changes include adding a western taxiway to facilitate the movement of aircraft when on the ground, enhancing the airport's current road network, and moving the rental car facility to a more convenient location for deplaning passengers. In addition, the south runway will be located to a new position 700 meters south of its current position. When that is complete, the current southern runway will be used as a taxiway. Again, all these changes are expected to be completed by around 2012.

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No matter where you're going, if you live in Columbus or nearby, there's a good chance you'll be flying through the Port Columbus International Airport. Regardless of where you're going or how long you plan to stay there, it's always good to research your travel plans before you go. The level of research needed may vary from person to person - some people are natural travelers and need no more than a destination. Others would probably be better off knowing at least a little bit about each airport they'll be passing through, as well as the final locations they'll be staying at. Remember, the more you know, the more you'll be able to handle sudden changes of plan or mishaps that arrive along the way. A little research never hurt anyone, so why not try it yourself? Get online today and see what you can find out. The more you know, the better off you'll be, so see what you can come up with and, most of all, travel safely and have fun.

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