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Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is the primary airport for St. Louis, Missouri and the surrounding area. The airport lies outside the city limits, but is owned and operated by the City of St. Louis. In 2003, over 20 million passengers traveled through the airport. However, passenger numbers dropped substantially to 13 million in 2004. History The airport was originally a balloon launching base named Kinloch Field. The Wright brothers visited the field while touring with their aircraft, and Theodore Roosevelt flew on their aircraft while it was visiting, becoming the first U.S. president to fly. In 1920, Major Albert Bond Lambert purchased the field and developed it into an airport with hangars and a terminal. Charles Lindbergh, whose first pilot job was flying airmail for Robertson Airlines at the airport, departed the airport for his record-breaking flight to Paris in 1927. Later that year, Lambert sold the airport, by then known as Lambert Field, to the City of St. Louis. Lambert thus became the first municipal airport in the United States. Before World War II, Robertson Airlines, Marquette Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines provided passenger service to St. Louis. During the war, the airport became a manufacturing base for McDonnell Aircraft and Curtiss-Wright. After the war, Minoru Yamasaki was commissioned to design a new passenger terminal at Lambert. Completed in 1956, the four-domed terminal design inspired future terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris. In the 1970s St. Louis proposed replacing the airport with a new airport in suburban Illinois. Missouri residents strongly objected and Lambert underwent a $290 million expansion that increased its operational capacity by 50 percent including lengthening of runways and increasing gate capacity to 81. The proposed MidAmerica St. Louis Airport ultimately was built in Mascoutah, Illinois and opened in 1997 and now acts as a reliever airport to Lambert although it has no major carriers and has been derided as pork barrel. Trans World Airlines moved its hub from Kansas City International Airport in 1982 and became Lambert's dominant carrier. The St. Louis hub survived TWA's bankruptcy in 1993, and by the late 1990's it was the dominant hub for TWA. After American Airlines bought TWA and merged its flight operations in 2001, Lambert became a reliever for American's existing hubs at Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth. American transferred many mainline TWA routes to American Connection, a group of affiliated regional carriers. Saint Louis today is American's fourth-largest hub, behind Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago O'Hare, and Miami International Airport. Southwest Airlines also maintains a major presence at Lambert. Facilities Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport covers 2,800 acres and has four runways: Terminals: Concourse A Concourse A has 16 Gates: A2 - A6, A8 - A10, A12, A14 - A19, A21 Concourse B Concourse B has 10 Gates: B2 - B4, B6 - B8, B10, B12, B14, B16 Concourse C Concourse C has 28 Gates: C1 - C3, C5 - C8, C10, C12, C15 - C18, C21, C23 - C25, C27 - C36, C38 Concourse D Concourse D has 15 Gates: D2, D4, D6, D12, D14, D16, D18, D20, D22, D24, D26, D30, D32, D34, D36 (This concourse is mainly vacant and serves as a walkway between Concourses A/B/C and Councourse E) Concourse E Concourse E has 16 Gates: E2, E4, E6, E8, E10, E12, E14, E16, E18, E20, E22, E24, E25, E29, E31, E33 Airline lounges Public transportation Note: All of the information below is subject to change. MetroLink The airport is served by two Metrolink light rail stations, which offer direct service to downtown St. Louis, University of Missouri-Saint Louis, Forest Park-Debalivere The Central West End neighborhood (including the Barnes Jewish Complex or BJC hospital Complex and Saint Louis Children's Hospital), Saint Louis University and the suburbs in Illinois with an easter terminus at Scott Airforce Base in Shiloh, IL This list of stations is not all inclusive; see www.metrostlouis.org for more information. Fares: MetroBus The Lambert Bus Port provides Metrobus Service to surrounding areas. The bus port is located adjacent to the intermediate parking lot, accessible via the tunnel connecting the airport main terminal. Routes Serving Lambert Bus Port: Fares: See (www.metrostlouis.org) for more information. Expansion plans Airport officials are drafting plans for terminal modernization at this time. A proposal will become available to the public in late 2006. Any other future expansion plans will be demand-driven. Aircraft production McDonnell Douglas had its world headquarters adjacent to the airport. The facilities, now run by Boeing, is now the headquarters for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. One of its most well-known production items is the FA/18 Hornet. Trivia See also | |||||||
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