Airport in Marathon, Florida
The
Florida Keys Marathon International Airport
(
IATA
:
MTH
,
ICAO
:
KMTH
,
FAA
LID
:
MTH
) is a public
airport
located along the Overseas Highway (US1) in
Marathon
, in
Monroe County
,
Florida
,
United States
. The airport covers 197 acres (80 ha) and has one
runway
.
History
[
edit
]
The 8000-foot airstrip in Marathon was built on 280 acres of land that was purchased at $70 an acre from Maitland Adams and Norberg Thompson of Key West. Belcher Oil Company was the prime contractor and constructed the airport for the Civil Aeronautics Administration. The project was started in the fall of 1942 and it was completed in the spring of 1943. The Marathon Airport was constructed during the early days of WWII and was a portion of the U.S. Navy flight programs. Marathon would become a Navy Outlying Field (OLF) and an auxiliary airfield to
Naval Air Station Key West
(NAS). Used by Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, 26th Antisubmarine Wing. The Army Air Forces turned responsibility for antisubmarine warfare over to the U.S. Navy in 1943. For a time at the beginning of the war, the airstrip property was partly owned by the Florida State Road Department. After the war, Monroe County petitioned this agency to turn it over to the county for a public airport. For most of its existence, the airport has been a general aviation facility although it did have scheduled passenger airline service for over 25 years including regional jet service for a short time in 2007. Regional 44-passenger seat
Convair 340
propeller service began in 1959 with
National Airlines (1934?1980)
serving Marathon on a
flag stop
basis as part of their Miami - Key West route and these flights marked the first time the airport was directly served by a major U.S. airline.
[1]
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, commuter air carrier American Air Taxi (AAT Airlines) ran a limited passenger service into Marathon with small
Cessna
twin prop aircraft. Also during the late 1960s,
Southeast Airlines
was serving the airport with three flights daily to and from Miami as part of a Miami - Marathon - Key West route utilizing two
Martin 4-0-4
prop aircraft and a
Fairchild F-27
turboprop. After the demise of this service,
Air Sunshine
, an airline founded in Key West, served Marathon with
Douglas DC-3
aircraft to and from Miami. For a time during the 1970s and early 1980s,
Air Florida Commuter
provided service to Marathon and Key West via a
code sharing
agreement with
Air Florida
, followed by
Provincetown-Boston Airlines
(PBA) which primarily used a combination of DC-3 prop and smaller
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante
commuter turboprop aircraft as well as larger 58-passenger seat
NAMC YS-11
turboprops on occasion. Other commuter airlines that served Marathon at various times over the years with prop and/or turboprop aircraft included Air Miami and successor North American Airlines, Air South,
Airways International
,
Bar Harbor Airlines
operating
code sharing
service as Eastern Express on behalf of
Eastern Airlines
,
Cape Air
,
Comair
flying
code sharing
service as the
Delta Connection
on behalf of
Delta Air Lines
,
Gulfstream International
, Pro Air, Shawnee Airlines and Southern Express.
[1]
Marathon Airport was served by
American Eagle Airlines
operating
code sharing
flights with turboprop aircraft on behalf of
American Airlines
until 2000. In mid-2006,
Delta Air Lines
announced planned nonstop regional jet service between Atlanta and Marathon to flown by its
regional
subsidiary
Atlantic Southeast Airlines
(ASA) on a
code sharing
basis. Shortly after the Delta announcement,
Continental Airlines
announced that it would begin services to Marathon via its Florida
code sharing
partner
Gulfstream International
. In July 2006, the
Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) notified airport officials at Marathon Airport that due to a shortage of personnel, the TSA would not be able to staff Marathon Airport with federal security screeners; passengers would have to board and disembark airline aircraft at the general aviation ramp area located on the opposite end of the runway instead of at the airport's passenger terminal. Both Continental and Delta then stated that using this area would be inconvenient to both passengers and airline staff, as it would cause lengthy delays in boarding due to all passengers having to be screened as they enter the aircraft rather than before reaching the gate. Connecting passengers would also have to be rescreened at the intermediate destination before boarding their connecting aircraft, causing further inconveniences in passenger connections. Both airlines also stated that if the airport could not resolve the TSA issue before their announced service start dates, they would withdraw their previously announced scheduled service offers.
[2]
However, on December 1, 2006, the TSA bowed to the effective lobbying efforts of local government, congressional and business officials when it announced that screeners would be provided at the airport no later than February 15, 2007, even if it meant using a contractor
Official Florida Keys Tourism Council News
[1]
[
permanent dead link
]
. As a result of the TSA decision, ASA began daily scheduled nonstop flights on behalf of Delta on February 15, 2007 between Atlanta and Marathon which marked the first time the airport had scheduled jet service.
[3]
In late spring of 2007, Delta ended the regional jet service operated by ASA and instead began regional jet flights operated on a
code sharing
basis by
Freedom Airlines
nonstop between Atlanta and Marathon. The reason given for this switch was due to Marathon's published runway length being 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and that Freedom Airlines'
Embraer ERJ-145
regional jet aircraft had better short field performance when compared with the
Canadair
regional jet aircraft operated by ASA . When ASA was serving the airport it used specially configured 40-passenger seat
Canadair CRJ-100
regional jets because the performance and takeoff weight of the standard 50-seat CRJ versions would exceed safety margins, given Marathon's comparatively short runway length.
In mid-summer of 2007, Delta announced it would end service to Marathon Airport due to low demand.
[4]
On October 4, 2008, Continental Airlines announced it would begin commercial service to Marathon Airport via a
Cape Air
codeshare to
Southwest Florida International Airport
in
Fort Myers
, with TSA security clearance to occur once on the ground in Fort Myers, if connecting to another flight. Service began on December 19, 2008, but ended the following year.
[4]
Also in 2008, Marathon Airport was featured in
Army of Two
, an action video game by
EA Montreal
.
On April 20, 2016, for the first time in approximately three decades, U.S. Customs and Immigration service became available at the Florida Keys Marathon International Airport. The inauguration of a new 4,200-sq-ft permanent Customs and Border Patrol facility located in the former commercial terminal. Located midfield on Taxiway Alpha, U.S. Customs is regularly available from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday though Sunday, with after-hours callout service available with 24 hours' notice. The cost for the $1.6 million facility was split equally between the Florida Department of Transportation and the Monroe County Airport Authority.
Airlines and destinations
[
edit
]
The airport currently does not have any scheduled passenger airline flights but does have charter air service.
Charter flights and management
[
edit
]
Aircraft Maintenance
Antique Air
Historical airline service to Miami: 1975 to 1999
[
edit
]
According to the
Official Airline Guide
(
OAG
), the following airlines operated scheduled passenger service nonstop to
Miami International Airport
(MIA) at various times from 1975 to 1999 utilizing prop and/or turboprop regional and commuter aircraft:
[6]
April 1975
November 1979
April 1981
February 1985
December 1989
April 1995
June 1999
Besides service to Miami, the airport also had nonstop flights to other destinations in Florida during the late 1980s including Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. In December 1989, the
OAG
listed three daily flights to Fort Lauderdale operated by
Comair
flying
code sharing
service as the
Delta Connection
with
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante
aircraft on behalf of
Delta Air Lines
as well as up to six flights a day also to Fort Lauderdale operated by
Air Sunshine
with
Cessna 402
aircraft.
[7]
In addition, Comair flying as the Delta Connection was operating one nonstop Embraer EMB-110 flight on weekdays to Orlando at this same time.
[8]
However, these flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando proved to be short-lived as subsequent OAG editions do not list any nonstop service between Marathon and these cities.
[9]
By 1995,
USAir Express
was operating nonstop flights between the airport and Tampa twice daily with
Beechcraft 1900C
commuter turboprops on a
code sharing
basis on behalf of
USAir
.
[10]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"History of airline service at Marathon, FL 1959-1989"
.
Sunshine Skies
. 1943-03-18
. Retrieved
2021-04-07
.
- ^
"Marathon won't get screeners from TSA"
.
Miami Herald
. 2006-08-09
. Retrieved
2006-08-17
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"The History of Airline Service at Marathon, FL 1990s-2000s"
.
Sunshine Skies
.
- ^
a
b
McCarthy, Ryan. "County admits airline service in Marathon unlikely".
Florida Keys Keynoter
(Marathon, Florida). July 21, 2012.
- ^
"Private Jet Charter: Marathon, Florida"
.
Monarch Air Group
. Retrieved
2012-08-12
.
- ^
http://www.departedflights.com
, Official Airline Guide (OAG), Miami flight schedules 1975 to 1999
- ^
http://www.departedflights.com
, Dec. 15, 1989 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Fort Lauderdale flight schedules
- ^
http://www.departedflights.com
, Dec. 15, 1989 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Orlando flight schedules
- ^
http://www.departedflights.com
, 1991, 1995 and 1999 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Fort Lauderdale & Orlando flight schedules
- ^
http://www.departedflights.com
, April 2, 1995 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Tampa flight schedules
Sources
[
edit
]
This article incorporates
public domain material
from the
Air Force Historical Research Agency
External links
[
edit
]
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