Club

Go to The Main Page Add Club to favorite!

Guam International Airport 

Guam International Airport
Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport
IATA: GUM – ICAO: PGUM – FAA: GUM
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner A.B. Won Pat Guam Int'l Airport Authority
Serves Guam
Elevation AMSL 297 ft / 91 m
Coordinates 13°29′02″N 144°47′50″E / 13.48389, 144.79722
Website www.GuamAirport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
6L/24R 10,015 3,053 Asphalt/Concrete
6R/24L 10,014 3,052 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations 36,948
Based aircraft 74
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport (IATA: GUM, ICAO: PGUM), also known as Guam International Airport, is an airport located in Tamuning and Barrigada, three miles east of the capital city of Hagåtña (formerly Agana) in the U.S. territory of Guam. It is named for Antonio Borja Won Pat, the first delegate from Guam to the United States House of Representatives, and is operated by the A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority (GIAA), an agency of the Government of Guam.

The airport is a hub for Continental Micronesia and the cargo carrier Asia Pacific Airlines.

Contents

History

The airport's history began as Agana Naval Air Station (Brewer Field) after World War II. Operations of the civilian terminal (Guam International Air Terminal) was passed onto the Government of Guam's Department of Commerce in 1969. In 1975, the Guam International Airport Authority (GIAA) was created as a separate agency. After Agana NAS was closed in April 1995, GIAA took over the entire airport's operations.

The first passenger terminal building (now the unused Commuter Terminal) was opened in 1982. The current, much larger terminal building was opened in phases between 1996 and 1998.

A Houston Chronicle article in 2008 stated that expected subsequent military buildup and population growth could lead to an expansion of Continental Micronesia flights to and from the airport.[2]

Customs, immigration, and security inspections

Arrival passenger inspection is conducted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP, immigration only) and Guam Customs & Quarantine Agency (GCQA). Departure security checks are conducted by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

Customs

Since Guam is outside the United States customs jurisdiction, all arrival passengers (since there are no intra-Guam flights) go through GCQA inspection, and departing passengers on the Honolulu-bound flight (currently the only Stateside departure) go through a normal USCBP customs inspection upon arrival.

Immigration

The USCBP inspects all arriving passengers except the nonstop flights from the States. Passengers arriving from the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. commonwealth) have to go through USCBP inspection as the Northern Marianas are currently outside of U.S. immigration jurisdiction. For U.S. citizens, passports are not required entering Guam from the Northern Marianas (i.e. other forms of ID proving admissibility are accepted), but are required for those transiting a foreign country between the States and Guam.

The USCBP also conducts a pre-clearance of nonstop passengers bounded for Honolulu. Because of the Guam-only Visa Waiver Program, which gives tourists from certain Asian countries visa-free entry (to Guam only but not the United States), Honolulu-bound passengers are inspected for their admissibility to the U.S.

Security

The TSA conducts security inspection for all departing passengers and all transit passengers not arriving from the U.S. including the Northern Marianas, which are already screened by TSA at their origins. However, Guam-Honolulu passengers who have onward connections must go through TSA inspection in Honolulu because they will have touched their checked baggages during U.S. customs inspection there.

Terminal design problem post 9/11

Since there are no intra-Guam flights, the airport's post-security concourse and gate area has no general separation. The only normal passenger entrance is through security and the only normal exit is through immigration. Except for the few gates designated for Honolulu arrivals, which route passengers directly to customs, all other gates do not have a separate arrival corridor. Arrival passengers walk directly into the gates waiting area, and could actually purchase food or duty free before entering the immigration hall.

The original design is said to be compliant with security standards at the time of opening. However, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government began to require separation of uninspected arrival passengers. The airport's current practice is to use a system of chairs, moving sidewalks, movable queue barriers and security/police staffing to usher arriving passengers from the gate to the immigration hall without coming into physical contact with departing passengers.

Airlines and destinations

Accidents

Several fatal accidents have occurred on and near Guam over the years. In total, 367 deaths occurred from 6 different aircraft accidents. The most recent accident occurred in 1997, when Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747, crashed as it was attempting to land at the airport.

For a comprehensive list of all accidents relating to Guam, visit the Aviation Safety Network database by linking to it from the external links section below.

References

  1. ^ FAA Airport Master Record for GUM (Form 5010 PDF), retrieved 2007-03-15
  2. ^ "Continental stands to gain in Guam." Houston Chronicle. May 29, 2008
  3. ^ Marianas Variety, ANA confirms shutdown on January 13, 2008-08-19
  • Lars Olausson, Lockheed Hercules Production List 1954-2007, self-published, Satenäs, Sweden, March 2006, no ISBN, page 50.

External links
Could not update stat
UP