Airport serving Springfield, Illinois, USA
Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport
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Airport type
| Public
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Owner/Operator
| Springfield Airport Authority
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Serves
| Springfield, Illinois
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Location
| Sangamon County, Illinois
, U.S.
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Opened
| November 1947
; 76 years ago
(
November 1947
)
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Occupants
| 183rd Wing
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Time zone
| UTC?06:00
(-6)
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? Summer (
DST
)
| UTC?05:00
(-5)
|
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Elevation
AMSL
| 598 ft / 182 m
|
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Coordinates
| 39°50′39″N
089°40′41″W
/
39.84417°N 89.67806°W
/
39.84417; -89.67806
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Website
| www.FlySPI.com
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FAA airport diagram
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Direction
|
Length
|
Surface
|
ft
|
m
|
4/22
|
8,001
|
2,439
|
Concrete
|
13/31
|
7,400
|
2,256
|
Asphalt
|
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|
Aircraft operations (2022)
| 25,915
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Based aircraft (2022)
| 93
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Passenger volume
(12 months ending March 2020)
| 145,000
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Scheduled flights
| 1,761
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Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport
(
IATA
:
SPI
,
ICAO
:
KSPI
,
FAA
LID
:
SPI
) is a civil-military airport in
Sangamon County
,
Illinois
, United States, three miles (6 km) northwest of downtown
Springfield
. It is owned by the Springfield Airport Authority (SAA).
[1]
The
Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA)
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems
for 2023?2027
categorized
it as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.
[3]
It is the seventh busiest airport of the 12 commercial airports in Illinois.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
The airport was dedicated in November 1947 under the name "Capital Airport." It came after pressure to construct a modern facility, as
American Airlines
and
Chicago & Southern Airlines
had canceled flights to Springfield in 1938 and 1939 respectively due to inadequate facilities at Capital Airport's predecessor. Construction on the new airport was begun soon after those cancellations but was delayed due to World War II.
[4]
[5]
The original airport had three 5300-foot runways, a service apron, a temporary passenger terminal, and T-hangars for 38 aircraft.
[4]
Two units of the Illinois National Guard were stationed at the airport in 1946, and one of them remains at the airport today.
[4]
[5]
In 2018, the airport embarked on an upgrade of its passenger terminal after receiving nearly $7 million from the Airport Improvement Program, a grant sponsored by the
Federal Aviation Administration
. The airport also worked to improve general aviation facilities like the
FBO
and hangars; roadways; and parking lots.
[6]
[7]
The
coronavirus pandemic
brought about airline suspensions at the airport, marking a significant downturn of traffic through the airport. Airlines returned service as travel picked up and after receiving money from the federal
CARES Act
to prop up flights.
[8]
The Illinois Department of Transportation named SPI the top primary airport in the state in 2020. The department considered things such as how well the airport worked with the state's Division of Aeronautics, the airport's safety record, promotion of aviation and educational events and general maintenance.
[9]
In 2021, the airport received $3 million in funding from the State of Illinois to upgrade facilities during the travel downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The funds went towards rehabilitating the north airport public parking lot and the north airport roadway. The airport also began constructing a new crosswind runway in 2021 to accommodate more traffic in a wider variety of wind conditions.
[10]
[11]
In 2022, runway 18-36 was removed.
The airport is taking significant steps to prepare their facilities to accommodate electric-powered aircraft. The airport broke ground on a solar energy farm in 2022 to increase the role of renewable energy in powering the airport, with the goal of powering over 90% of the airport's needs with renewables.
[12]
[13]
Military use
[
edit
]
The airport is home to
Capital Airport Air National Guard Station
, a 91-acre (370,000 m
2
) facility on land leased from the Springfield Airport Authority (SAA). It is home to the
183d Fighter Wing
(183 FW), an
Illinois Air National Guard
unit operationally gained by the
Air Combat Command
(ACC) and State Headquarters, Illinois Air National Guard. Historically a fighter unit, the 183 FW consists of 321 full-time and 800 part-time military personnel (total strength 1,321).
[
citation needed
]
Facilities and aircraft
[
edit
]
The airport covers 2,300 acres (930 ha) at an elevation of 598 feet (182 m). It has two runways: 4/22 is 8,001 by 150 feet (2,439 x 46 m) concrete; and 13/31 is 7,400 by 150 feet (2,256 x 46 m) asphalt.
[1]
[14]
In the year ending July 31, 2022, the airport had 25,915 aircraft operations, average 71 per day: 64%
general aviation
, 20%
military
, 15%
air taxi
, and 2%
commercial
. For the same time period, 93 aircraft were based at the airport: 69 single-engine and 6 multi-engine
airplanes
, 12
jets
, 4
helicopters
, 1
glider
, and 1
ultralight
.
[1]
The airport has an
FBO
offering fuel,
general maintenance
, catering, hangars, courtesy cars, conference rooms, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, and more.
Terminal services
[
edit
]
The airport terminal has a
Subway
, a
gift shop
, an
automated teller machine
,
TV
, and a lounge.
Ground transportation
[
edit
]
Sangamon Mass Transit District
, the operator of public transit in Springfield, does not serve the airport as of 2023.
Airlines and destinations
[
edit
]
Allegiant Air
and
Breeze Airways
use mainline jets to service the airport;
American Eagle
flights from Springfield use
regional jets
.
The airport was previously served by
Ozark Airlines
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-10s
,
DC-9-30s
and
Fairchild Hiller FH-227s
to St. Louis and Chicago
O'Hare Airport
.
Air Illinois
flew
BAC One-Elevens
(to St. Louis and Chicago) and also served the airport with
Hawker Siddeley HS 748s
,
Handley Page Jetstreams
and
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters
. Air Illinois HS 748s flew nonstop among other routes to the now-closed
Meigs Field
on the lakefront next to
downtown Chicago
.
Destinations map
|
Destinations from Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport
Red
= Year-round destination
Green
= Seasonal destination
Blue
= Future destination
|
Statistics
[
edit
]
Carrier shares
[
edit
]
Top destinations
[
edit
]
Accidents and incidents
[
edit
]
- On December 20, 2007, a
Beechcraft Bonanza
crashed in Springfield while en route to SPI. The pilot reported a problem while flying the Instrument Landing System approach and deviated from the approach, flying around until crashing. The probable cause was found to be loss of control during an instrument approach due to spatial disorientation.
[16]
- On January 6, 2011, a
Learjet 35A
crashed while landing at SPI. The crew reported the aircraft's master warning and stick shaker activated when the aircraft was on short final while flying an instrument approach procedure. The aircraft impacted left of the runway centerline before departing the right side of the runway. The two pilots received minor injuries, and the passengers were uninjured. The probable cause of the accident was found to be the pilot's decision to conduct an instrument approach in icing conditions without the anti-ice system activated, resulting in an inadvertent aerodynamic stall due to in-flight accumulation of airframe icing.
[17]
- On January 27, 2020, a twin-engine
Piper Aerostar
aircraft crashed outside SPI after takeoff en route for Huntsville, Alabama. Officials reported at the time that the aircraft was having trouble with its instruments. Former Springfield mayor
Frank Edwards
and then-current Sangamon County
Coroner
Cinda Edwards were among those killed in the crash.
[18]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
FAA Airport Form 5010 for SPI
PDF
. Federal Aviation Administration. effective December 30, 2021.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"RITA BTS Transtats - SPI"
.
www.transtats.bts.gov
. Retrieved
July 15,
2023
.
- ^
"NPIAS Report 2023-2027 Appendix A"
(PDF)
.
Federal Aviation Administration
. October 6, 2022. p. 44
. Retrieved
March 15,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport"
.
Sangamon County History
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"In The Land of Lincoln… Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, Springfield, Illinois"
.
MidwestFlyer.com
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"SPI Passenger Terminal Project Moves Forward"
.
Aviation Pros
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport Breaks Ground on Major Capital Improvement Projects"
.
Aviation Pros
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"Springfield Airport Authority Welcomes the Return of American Airlines to Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (SPI)"
.
Aviation Pros
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"Springfield's Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport named top commercial airport in 2020 by IDOT"
.
The State Journal-Register
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport gets $3 million for improvements"
.
ABC News Channel 20
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"Springfield airport gets last bit of funding to complete Phase 2 of runway project"
.
The State Journal-Register
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"As Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport celebrates 75 years, management looks toward the future"
.
The State Journal-Register
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport breaks ground for solar project"
.
ABC News Channel 20
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"SPI airport data at skyvector.com"
.
skyvector.com
. Retrieved
September 13,
2022
.
- ^
"Breeze Airways bringing new service to Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport"
.
Springfield State Journal-Register
. Retrieved
September 19,
2023
.
- ^
"N17784 accident description"
.
Plane Crash Map
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"ASN"
.
Aviation Safety Network
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
- ^
"Former mayor, Sangamon Co. coroner among 3 dead in twin engine plane crash near Springfield airport, sheriff says"
.
ABC 7 Chicago
. Retrieved
November 21,
2022
.
External links
[
edit
]