Fresno Yosemite International Airport

Fresno Yosemite International Airport (IATA: FAT, ICAO: KFAT, FAA LID: FAT), often called FYI, formerly known as Fresno Air Terminal, is a joint civil-military public airport located in eastern Fresno, in Fresno County, California. The airport is over 60 miles (97 km) away from Yosemite National Park, which lies directly north of the city, on California State Route 41. The airport covers 2,150 acres (8.7 km²) and has two runways and one helipad. It is the major air transportation center for the San Joaquin Valley, with major air carrier service to airline hubs throughout the Western United States, as well as direct international flights to Guadalajara, Mexico. It is also home to Fresno Air National Guard Base and the 144th Fighter Wing (144 FW) of the California Air National Guard. Fresno was the ninth (9th) busiest international route out of Guadalajara International Airport in 2009.

History

World War II

The airfield was opened in June 1942. During World War II the airfield was known as Hammer Field and was used by the United States Army Air Forces' Fourth Air Force. Hammer Field was a training base and had three sub-bases and two gunnery ranges.

Hammer Field also had an Army Air Forces regional hospital. The Army Air Force acquired this area for the Airways Detachment to set up a sub-base of Camp Pinedale for an extension of ordnance storage facilities and additional land for housing construction, a hospital, laundry, drainage facilities, cold storage, fire station, school building, rifle ranges, high tower shot gun range, motor pool areas, chemical warfare storage area, and a concrete underground igloo magazine arms storage.

On 1 January 1944, a Night Fighter school began operations at Hammer Field, with IV Fighter Command activating the 426th Night Fighter Squadron at the field under the 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group. The unit operated P-70s and P-61 Black Widows and flew training missions in the Bakersfield area. With their training as a unit completed, the 426th NFS packed their bags and left California in mid-June 1944 for duty in India as part of Tenth Air Force. The 481st remained at Hammer Field as a training organization with P-70s and night-equipped P-38 Lightnings until being inactivated in April 1945.

With the end of the war in September 1945, Hammer Field was inactivated and was disposed of though the War Assets Administration (WAA). By 1949 the facility was completely in civil hands; the sources included the City of Fresno (804.59 acres by lease), 21 individual land owners (781.96 acres by fee and 27.24 acres (110,200 m) by lease), easement right-of-ways (1.42 acres) and permit (1.64 acres). In 1943 the lease on 9.24 acres (37,400 m) was terminated. In 1945 and 1946, the leases for 18 acres (73,000 m) and 5 acres (20,000 m) were terminated, respectively. Effective January 15, 1947, 23.06 acres (93,300 m) were reassigned for the Hammer Field National Guard training area. In 1948, 319 acres (1.29 km) were quitclaimed and the lease on 799.69 acres (3.2362 km) were transferred to the City of Fresno. In 1948 and 1949, 441.5 acres (1.787 km) were quitclaimed to the State of California.

Air National Guard use

The airfield was renamed Fresno Air Terminal, and retained a military cantonement area for the an Army Air Forces unit of the National Guard that became a unit of the Air National Guard when the U.S. Air Force was established as a separate service in 1947.

Today the California Air National Guard's 144th Fighter Wing (144 FW) occupies two separate parcels of land at the airport. (the main base area and the Munitions Storage Area). These areas of the airport are known as the Fresno Air National Guard Base.

Operationally-gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC), the mission of the 144th FW is to provide air defense protection for California from the Mexican border to Oregon utilizing F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The 144th FW occupies 6 administrative, 16 industrial and 2 services buildings totaling approximately 341,251 square feet (31,703.3 m) with 325 full-time personnel, primarily Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) and Air Reserve Technician (ART) personnel. A unit training drill is conducted once a month and results in a surge of up to a total of 990 personnel when "traditional" part-time air national guardsmen are included. The part-time personnel, particularly pilots, also perform additional drills, additional flying training periods and/or additional active duty every month throughout the year.

The Composite Support Facility completed in late 2001 added an additional 6,236 square feet (579.3 m) of building area.

In addition to its Fresno ANGB facility, the 144 FW also maintains a permanent F-16 alert detachment/operating location (OL) at March Air Reserve Base, near Riverside, California.

Civil use

In 1988 the FAA designated the airport as an "International Point of Entry", making it eligible for international flights.

In 1995 the name was changed to attract out-of-state and international visitors to Yosemite National Park. Since its opening, the airport has gone through multiple renovations and expansions. In 2002 a new two-level Concourse building was completed and in 2006 construction of a new Federal Inspection Facility (FIS) was completed. The airport applied for a new FAA identifier code when its name was changed in 1996; however, the FAA will only assign a new airport identifier code when an airport physically moves to another location, such as in 1995 when Denver Airport moved from Stapleton (DIA to DEN).

Fresno has also served as headquarters for at least two airlines. Roughly 1996-1998, Air 21 flew Fokker F28 jets to various destinations; as far east as Colorado Springs, and as far west as San Francisco. Allegiant Air also called Fresno home, but has since moved its headquarters to Las Vegas.
In the 1980s, Fresno saw a variety of mainline aircraft, but throughout the 1990s, there was a shift to mainly regional aircraft. There has recently been more mainline aircraft returning to Fresno; including the long standing service to Dallas/Ft. Worth on American Airlines, Allegiant Air, and US Airways offer mainline service to Fresno. Delta Airlines announced service to Fresno from Atlanta, but this was later recanted. Frontier Airlines ended service as of June 2007, after 2 years of steady service.

Facilities and aircraft

Fresno Yosemite International Airport covers an area of 1,728 acres (699 ha) at an elevation of 336 feet (102 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 11L/29R is 9,227 by 150 feet (2,812 x 46 m) and 11R/29L is 7,205 by 100 feet (2,196 x 30 m). It also has one helipad designated H1 which measures 70 by 70 feet (21 x 21 m).

For the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, the airport had 104,195 aircraft operations, an average of 285 per day: 65% general aviation, 18% air taxi, 11% scheduled commercial, and 6% military. At that time there were 208 aircraft based at this airport: 44% single-engine, 22% multi-engine, 6% jet, 11% helicopter and 18% military.

Passenger totals

Fresno completed 2006 with 1.281 million passengers traveling through Fresno Yosemite International Airport, an increase of 7.54% over 2005.

Fresno completed 2007 with 1.382 million passengers traveling through Fresno Yosemite International Airport, an increase of 3.13% over 2006.

The most prominent airlines at Fresno are Skywest Airlines for United Express and Delta Connection (36.29%), Mesa Airlines for US Airways Express (16.97%), American Airlines (12.77%), and Horizon Air (9.92%).

Airlines and destinations

Cargo

Quick facts

Solar power

Fresno Yosemite International features a 2.4 megawatt solar system, completed in March 2008. The airport purchases solar-generated electricity from the system, which is owned, operated, and maintained by Solar Power Partners and its investors. Solar Power Partners contracted WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corp to construct the system. The solar system was financed through a solar Power Purchase Agreement, which required no capital outlay from the airport. At the time of commissioning, the system was the largest airport solar system in the nation.

Location & QuickFacts

FAA Information Effective:	2006-06-08
Airport Identifier:	FAT
Longitude/Latitude:	119-43-05.3000W/36-46-34.3000N -119.718139/36.776194 (Estimated)
Elevation:	336 ft / 102.41 m (Surveyed)
Land:	2150 acres
From nearest city:	5 nautical miles NE of Fresno, CA
Location:	Fresno County, CA
Magnetic Variation:	14E (2005)

Owner & Manager

Ownership:	Publicly owned
Owner:	City Of Fresno
Address:	4995 E Clinton Way Fresno, CA 93727
Phone number:	559-621-4500
Manager:	Russell C. Widmar, A.a.e. DIRECTOR OF AVIATION
Address:	4995 E Clinton Way Fresno, CA 93727
Phone number:	559-621-4500

Airport Operations and Facilities

Airport Use:	Open to public
Wind indicator:	Yes
Segmented Circle:	Yes
Control Tower:	Yes
Attendance Schedule:	ALL/ALL/ALL
Lighting Schedule:	DUSK-DAWN
Beacon Color:	Clear-Green (lighted land airport)
Sectional chart:	San Francisco
Region:	AWP - Western-Pacific
Traffic Pattern Alt:	967 ft
Boundary ARTCC:	ZOA - Oakland
Tie-in FSS:	RIU - Rancho Murieta
FSS on Airport:	No
FSS Phone:	916-354-0161
FSS Toll Free:	1-800-WX-BRIEF
NOTAMs Facility:	FAT (NOTAM-d service avaliable)
Certification type/date:	I BS 5/1973
Federal Agreements:	NGPY

Airport Communications

Unicom:

122.950

Airport Services

Fuel available:	100 A
Airframe Repair:	MAJOR
Power Plant Repair:	MAJOR
Bottled Oxygen:	HIGH/LOW
Bulk Oxygen:	HIGH

Runway Information

Runway 11L/29R

Runway 11R/29L

Helipad H1

Radio Navigation Aids

Remarks

Based Aircraft

Major Carriers Serving This Airport