Cold Bay's main runway is the fifth-largest in Alaska and was built during World War II. Today, it is used for scheduled cargo flights by Alaska Central Express and is sometimes used as an emergency diversion airport for passenger flights crossing the Pacific Ocean.[5][6]
A myth describes Cold Bay Airport as an alternate landing site for Space Shuttles,[7] but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has stated that it was never so designated, and it was not within the entry crossrange capability of Space Shuttles.
Cold Bay Airport covers 2,213 acres (896 ha) and has two asphalt paved runways: 15/33 is 10,180 by 150 feet (3,174 x 46 m) and 8/26 is 4,900 by 150 feet (1,494 x 46 m). For the 12-month period ending October 30, 2017, the airport had 9,090 aircraft operations, an average of 25 per day: 63% air taxi, 30% scheduled commercial, 5% military, and 2% general aviation.[1]
Airlines and destinations
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(January 2022)
The following airlines offer scheduled passenger service at this airport:
Passengers boarding a Boeing 767 to complete their flight to Portland after their flight was diverted due to an engine issue with the first aircraft
Historical airline service
Reeve Aleutian Airways (RAA) served Cold Bay with scheduled passenger flights for many years. During the 1970s and 1980s, Reeve was operating nonstop flights to Anchorage (ANC) with Lockheed L-188 Electra and NAMC YS-11 turboprop aircraft.[13] Reeve was also operating Electra propjet service nonstop to Seattle (SEA) on a three flights per week schedule in 1979.[14] By 1989, the airline had introduced nonstop jet service to Anchorage operated with Boeing 727-100combi aircraft which were capable of transporting both passengers and freight on the main deck of the aircraft in addition to continuing to operate nonstop Electra service to Anchorage as well.[15] Reeve was continuing to operate 727 jet service nonstop to Anchorage during the late 1990s before ceasing all flight operations in 2000.[16] From 2020 until the summer of 2021, Alaska Airlines flights to and from Adak would stop in Cold Bay to assist passengers with the shutdown of commuter flights from Anchorage to Cold Bay and Unalaska.
Statistics
Top destinations
Busiest domestic routes from CDB (December 2021 - November 2022)[17]
June 8, 1983 (1983-06-08): Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8, a Lockheed L-188 Electra with 15 people on board, lost one of its propellers shortly after takeoff from the airport, causing damage which depressurized the airliner and jammed its flight controls and engine throttles. Needing a longer runway than Cold Bay to land safely, the crew managed to land the aircraft at Anchorage International Airport, Alaska, without injury to anyone.
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