Orlando Sanford International Airport

Not to be confused with Orlando International Airport.

For the San Francisco radio station, see KSFB.

Orlando/Sanford International Airport
File:Orlando Sanford International Airport Logo.jpg
Aerial view, July 2011
IATA: SFB ICAO: KSFB FAA LID: SFB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Sanford Airport Authority
Operator	Airports Worldwide, Inc.
Serves	Orlando, Florida
Location	Sanford, Florida
Focus city for	Allegiant Air
Elevation AMSL	55 ft / 17 m
Website	orlandosanfordairport.com
Maps
FAA Airport Diagram
SFB Location within Florida
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 9C/27C 3,578 1,091 Asphalt 9L/27R 11,000 3,353 Asphalt 9R/27L 6,647 2,026 Asphalt 18/36 6,002 1,829 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2013)
Aircraft operations 304,976 Based aircraft 333 Passenger traffic annually 1,713,000
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Orlando-Sanford International Airport (IATA: SFB, ICAO: KSFB, FAA LID: SFB) is in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. It was built as Naval Air Station Sanford, a Master Jet Base for carrier-based attack and reconnaissance aircraft until 1969.

Due to flight training, the airport is consistently in the top 30 busiest airports in the world in terms of total flight operations (takeoff and landings). It is the Orlando area's secondary commercial airport, but is farther away from downtown Orlando and the attractions (Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and SeaWorld Orlando) than the primary airport, Orlando International Airport (MCO/KMCO).

The airport is owned by the Sanford Airport Authority, but it's operated by Airports Worldwide, a company based in Houston that is majority owned by the Ontario Municipal Retirement System (OMERS) in partnership with the Houston Airport System (HAS) and Airport Development Company (ADC). Airports Worldwide is same company that owns Belfast International Airport, Stockholm Skavsta, Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, Mariscal Sucre International Airport & Juan Santamaría International Airport and owner of TBI AM, operator of five management contracts in US.

Because of that affiliation, Orlando Sanford International Airport is served primarily by British charter airlines serving the European market for leisure travel. It is primarily a landing point for European travel, but Sanford is also the second largest focus city for Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air. It was a small focus city for the travel marketer Direct Air until the company's demise in 2012.

Passenger traffic at the airport increased 250% from 684,000 in FY2010 to 1,713,000 in FY2014.

History

Naval Air Station Sanford

Main article: Naval Air Station Sanford

Orlando-Sanford International Airport started life as Naval Air Station Sanford with the airport codes NRJ and KNRJ. Commissioned on November 3, 1942, the base initially concentrated on advanced land-based patrol plane training. It was used by the Navy until it closed in 1969.

Orlando Sanford International Airport

The City of Sanford assumed control of the former NAS Sanford in 1969 and renamed the facility Sanford Airport, hiring the air station's recently retired Executive Officer, Commander J. S. "Red" Cleveland, USN (Ret.), as the first Airport Manager. The city concurrently established the Sanford Airport Authority. For the next twenty-five years, the airport was a general aviation facility and periodically hosted civilian/military air shows and static displays. Initially an uncontrolled airfield, the control tower was reactivated in the early 1970s as a non-FAA facility, employing a number of retired enlisted Navy air traffic controllers who had served at NAS Sanford.

Additional name changes followed, to include Sanford Regional Airport, Central Florida Regional Airport, Orlando Sanford Regional Airport and the current Orlando Sanford International Airport. Through the 1980s and 1990s the oldest Navy buildings were demolished while those built in the 1950s and 1960s were renovated for civil use. New buildings and hangars were added.

OLF Osceola was transferred to the control of Seminole County, Florida but was never officially recommissioned as an active airfield. In the 1970s, the former OLF began to be used by general aviation drug smuggling aircraft as a transshipment point. Following a major drug interdiction by local and federal law enforcement agencies, Seminole County placed large "speed bumps at various intervals across the runway to deter future illegal use. By the 1980s the county began to use the site as a landfill and dump, demolishing the remaining runways.

In 1992 parts of the action film Passenger 57, starring Wesley Snipes, were filmed at the then-Orlando Sanford Regional Airport, where it represented a small airport in Louisiana. Shortly after filming, a new control tower was built and air traffic control operations assumed by the FAA. The Navy control tower and the large Navy hangar to which it was attached were demolished.

In the mid-1990s a new passenger terminal capable of accommodating jet airliners was built. Charter airlines catering to the heavy British tourist demographic that had previously been using Orlando International Airport were offered greatly reduced landing fees at Sanford, so many carriers relocated their operations. Scheduled international and domestic flights followed, as reflected by current operations by Icelandair and Allegiant Air.

In 2010 Allegiant Air announced it was moving many flights to larger and more centrally located Orlando International Airport to compete with AirTran Airways. Due to passenger's comments, all flights have returned to Orlando-Sanford.

The airport is home to Aerosim Flight Academy, formerly Delta Connection Academy, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, which provides ab initio flight training for prospective regional airline and international pilots. The Seminole County Sheriff's Office has a hangar and support facility for aviation elements of the agency's Special Operations Division.

Facilities

The airport covers 2,010 acres (813 ha) and has four runways:

• Runway 9L/27R: 11,000 x 150 ft. (3,353 x 46 m) Asphalt
• Runway 9C/27C: 3,578 x 75 ft. (1,091 x 23 m) Asphalt
• Runway 9R/27L: 6,647 x 75 ft. (2,026 x 23 m) Asphalt
• Runway 18/36: 6,002 x 150 ft. (1,829 x 46 m) Asphalt/Concrete

The dominant runway is 9L/27R. This was built from the naval air station's original Runway 9/27, which was 8,000 ft (2,400 m) x 200 ft (61 m) with overruns of 2,145 ft (654 m) and 1,985 ft (605 m). Runway 9L/27R was recently extended 1,400 ft (430 m) to 11,000 ft (3,400 m). The project was completed on April 1, 2013. Parallel Runways 9C/27C and 9R/27L were built later, the former on a previous taxiway and the latter all-new, for small aircraft. The airport also has Runway 18/36, another Navy runway, for rare northerly fronts in the winter, but this 6000-ft runway is rarely used by airliners.

Airlines and destinations

Regular flights

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Allegiant Air	Allentown/Bethlehem, Appleton/Green Bay, Asheville, Austin (begins 13 February 2015), Bangor, Belleville/St. Louis, Bloomington/Normal, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Chattanooga, Chicago-Rockford, Cincinnati, Clarksburg, Columbus-Rickenbacker, Concord (NC), Des Moines, Duluth, Elmira/Corning, Fargo, Fayetteville/Bentonville, Fort Wayne, Grand Forks, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Greenville/Spartanburg, Harrisburg, Huntington (WV), Indianapolis (begins February 12, 2015), Knoxville, Lansing, Lexington, Little Rock, New Orleans (begins February 5, 2015), Niagara Falls, Owensboro, Peoria, Plattsburgh, Portsmouth (NH), Roanoke, Sioux Falls, South Bend, Springfield (IL), Springfield/Branson, Toledo, Tri-Cities (TN), Tulsa, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Youngstown/Warren Seasonal: Bismarck, Hagerstown (MD), Laredo, McAllen, Moline/Quad Cities, Oklahoma City, Shreveport, St. Cloud	A, B

Charters

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Arkefly	Charter: Amsterdam	A
Jetairfly	Charter: Brussels	A
Monarch Airlines	Seasonal Charter: London-Gatwick, Manchester (UK)	A
Thomson Airways	Charter: Birmingham (UK), London-Gatwick, Manchester (UK) Seasonal Charter: East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow-International, Newcastle upon Tyne	A

Statistics

Busiest domestic routes
(Nov 2012 - Oct 2013)

Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Allentown, PA	41,810	Allegiant
2	Lexington, KY	41,510	Allegiant
3	Knoxville, TN	40,000	Allegiant
4	Plattsburgh, NY	24,000	Allegiant
5	South Bend, IN	23,000	Allegiant
6	Niagara Falls, NY	23,000	Allegiant
7	Bangor, ME	23,000	Allegiant
9	Harrisburg, PA	21,000	Allegiant
8	Huntington, WV	22,000	Allegiant
10	Fayetteville, AR	20,000	Allegiant

Incidents and accidents

• Numerous aircraft mishaps occurred during the World War II years, but detailed data is not readily available.
• On March 29, 2007, Allegiant Air Flight 758, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft that took off from Pease International Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, experienced a hydraulic failure that prevented the nose landing gear from deploying. The plane made a safe landing at Orlando Sanford International Airport, with only one minor injury sustained in the aircraft evacuation.
• On July 10, 2007, a Cessna 310, originating from Daytona Beach International Airport, Florida, en route to Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, Florida, crashed into two homes in Sanford, Florida, killing five people: the pilot, his passenger, and three people inside the houses. The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit and attempted an emergency landing at nearby Orlando Sanford International Airport. NASCAR said the pilot of the plane was Michael Klemm, a senior captain with NASCAR Aviation. His passenger was Dr. Bruce Kennedy, husband of International Speedway Corporation president Lesa France Kennedy, the daughter of the longtime head of NASCAR Bill France, Jr., who had died a month earlier in June 2007. They were the only two people on the plane, according to both NASCAR and the NTSB. Four people also were injured, three of whom were critically burned, authorities said. The NTSB factual report dated December 2007 indicates that the accident was caused by an electrical malfunction, including smoke in the cockpit, that occurred on the previous flight and that was not rectified prior to the accident flight, resulting in the subsequent fire. The accident pilot was informed about the known problem prior to flight but elected to fly the aircraft regardless.
• On October 8, 2010, Allegiant Air Flight 700, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, caught fire in the right engine shortly after departing the gate at Orlando Sanford International Airport. The fire was quickly extinguished, and the passengers safely exited the plane with no injuries being reported. The flight was scheduled to depart for Roanoke Regional Airport in Roanoke, Virginia, at 7 a.m.

External links

• Orlando Sanford International Airport
• FlySanford.com
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective December 26, 2024
• FAA Terminal Procedures for SFB, effective December 26, 2024
• Resources for this airport:
  • FAA airport information for SFB
  • AirNav airport information for KSFB
  • ASN accident history for SFB
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures