Bangor International Airport

Bangor International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport on the west side of the city of Bangor, in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. Owned and operated by the City of Bangor, the airport has a single runway measuring . Originally a military installation known as Dow Air Force Base, Bangor remains the home of the 101st refueling wing of the Maine Air National Guard. Most Air Force operations at the base ceased in the 1960s. Covering 2,079 acres (841 ha) the airport is categorized by the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (2023–2027) as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

The airport's location on major air corridors between Europe and the East Coast of the United States make it a common spot for diverted flights, as well as military charter flights.

Bangor International is operated as an "enterprise fund", which means that the expense of operating it comes from airport revenue.

History

20th century

Bangor International Airport began as Godfrey Field in 1921, on land owned by local attorney Edward Rawson Godfrey (1877–1958).

Regular air passenger service to Portland and Boston began in 1931 by Boston-Maine Airways, owned by the Boston and Maine and Bangor and Aroostook railroads and under contract to Pan American, The airport was equipped with floodlights for night flights as early as 1937.

Just before World War II, Godfrey Field was taken over by the Army Air Corps and became the Bangor Army Air Field. It was operated until 1968 as Dow Air Force Base, She landed at Dow but took off for the next leg (to Canada) from the airport in nearby Old Town. The Canadian authorities refused her permission to hop the Atlantic and ordered her back to Bangor.

In 1958, the Air Force constructed its current 11,440 ft runway for the B-52 Stratofortress. At the time, it was the longest runway on the east side of the Mississippi River. Most of the base was purchased by the city and reopened the following year as Bangor International Airport. where the hijacker was captured.

From the 1970s into the 1990s, the airport attracted 3,000 to 5,000 commercial flights a year, mostly charter jetliners flying between Europe and the West Coast of the United States, or the Caribbean and Mexico. Bangor was a logical refueling stop, and as a U.S. port of entry, passengers could go through customs and immigration checks while their plane was being serviced. Travelers from every part of the world mingled in the airport lounge — from the French and Belgian contingents of the Elvis Presley Fan Club on their way to Memphis to President José López Portillo of Mexico on his way to Moscow with members of his military staff. Laker Airways, World Airways, Lot Polish Airlines, Aeroméxico, British Airways, Balair, Condor Airlines, LTU International, Capitol International Airways, Aeroflot, and Pan American were a few of the companies whose livery became common in the skies above Bangor. Finnair briefly used Bangor as a hub for regularly scheduled daily flights.

Bangor also had mainline scheduled jets on Northeast Airlines, and subsequently Delta in the 1970s with flights to Portland and Boston. By the 1980s, USAir and United also began mainline service into BGR. Continental briefly had 1 mainline MD-80 jet to Newark Liberty International Airport in 1991–1992 to complement their propjet Continental Express service to Newark and Presque Isle.

In 1977, Erwin Kreuz, a 50-year-old West German brewery worker on his way to San Francisco, stepped off a refueling charter flight in the mistaken belief that he had reached his destination. Speaking no English, he spent four frustrating days in Bangor looking for San Francisco landmarks before realizing he was not in California. When his story made local and then national news, Bangorians were so delighted with his error that he received the key to the city, met the governor of Maine, was made an honorary member of the Penobscot Indian tribe, received a marriage proposal, and was given a gift of local land. The San Francisco Chronicle paid his way to California, where he was similarly feted, and he was invited back to Bangor the following year to help open the Bangor Mall.

In 1980, major renovations were launched to the airport. Estimated to cost around $1 million, the domestic terminals were upgraded, a two floor addition was made to the international terminal, and new conveyor belts for luggage were constructed. The project was completed in May 1981.

In 1992, it was the launch site for the Chrysler Trans-Atlantic Challenge Balloon Race. The Belgians won, but the American team, taking a more southerly track to avoid inclement weather, inadvertently became the first to pilot a balloon from North America to Africa, landing just east of Casablanca, Morocco, setting new endurance and distance records in the process.

In October 1995, Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin held a brief summit at the airport to discuss economic cooperation.

Bangor has been the port of entry for over a million servicemen and women returning from the Gulf War, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the NATO operations IFOR and SFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina on military charters. Starting in 1991, local veterans and interested citizens formed a group of troop greeters to avoid the situation of the Vietnam War, when soldiers returned without ceremony or greeting. The civilian-driven "ceremony of return" in Bangor has been well organized and often ebullient. In 2006, former President Bill Clinton spontaneously joined the line of troop-greeters when his private plane made a refueling stop.

thumb|Dropoff area

In 2014, Bangor International started a $10 million modernization of the main terminal's first floor. Construction was slated for completion in spring 2016.

Most regular flights out of Bangor are connections to relatively close destinations. Other kinds of service include World Airways charter flights to cities in or outside the U.S. Most World Airways flights used the Douglas DC-10 until it was replaced with McDonnell-Douglas MD-11s, which generally operate from the mostly unused International Terminal next to the busy domestic terminal.

British Airways sometimes brings charter flights from London–Heathrow on Boeing 747s or other aircraft.

North American Airlines, operated by Global Aviation Holdings, Inc., frequently used Bangor International to transport U.S. troops on Boeing 767-300ERs to Europe. The airline since went bankrupt.

On July 8, 2010, ten captured Russian spies (members of the "Illegals Program"), were deported on a government-chartered jet that took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport bound for Vienna International Airport, with a stop in Bangor for fuel.

Delta Air Lines, the airport's largest carrier, saw a 33% decline in passengers in May 2011.

Between 2010 to 2015, an average of about 470,000 passengers boarded at the airport each year.

In 2024, the airport announced a $45 million runway repair project with an estimated completion time of two years, and allocated an additional $14.2 million for upgrades to the post-security terminal areas.

Diversion destination

thumb|right|Aerial view of Bangor International Airport

Bangor is the first major American airport encountered by airliners approaching the United States from the east and the last for airliners heading towards Europe. With a runway that is greater than two miles (3.2 km) long and an uncluttered airspace, it offers a place to land in case of bad weather at an airplane's destination, bomb threats, or passengers who prove unruly or are discovered to be on the Transportation Security Administration's No Fly List. Between 2004 and May 2012, the airport handled 647 unscheduled landings: 388 for fuel, 139 for weather, 50 for medical reasons, 49 for maintenance problems, and 21 for security reasons. Because of its experience, the airport is able to quickly assemble firefighters, ambulances, police officers, and federal agents to meet such planes. During their involuntary visit to Maine, passengers receive food and donated cell phones to make calls. The airport receives $2,000 to $3,000 in handling and fuel fees, so it makes a small profit for each diverted flight.

Pilots occasionally use Bangor to prepare fuel estimates for transatlantic flights to North American destinations, since they can divert to Bangor if the fuel load proves insufficient.

Transatlantic flights are sometimes diverted to Bangor when they have mechanical trouble. Among those who have made unscheduled stops for that reason are former President George H. W. Bush and Colin Powell, and actors Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford.

One notable security example was the September 2004 diversion for singer Cat Stevens and his daughter. In May 2001, Bangor handled two such flights from Britain within three hours. A Britannia Airways Boeing 767 to Cancún, Mexico, landed at Bangor on a Friday about noon. Three hours later, a British Airways Boeing 747 heading to Mexico City did the same.

Current service

Bangor International Airport has up to 30 daily departures through Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Breeze Airways , Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines.

Since the Iraq War, Bangor has also been busy with transcontinental and transatlantic military charter flights making refueling stops. Once in Bangor, planes often disembark military passengers, refuel, reload the troops and take off to air bases elsewhere in the U.S. or overseas.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger