Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport (IATA Airport Code STL) is the primary airport for Saint Louis, Missouri and the surrounding area. In 2003, over 20 million passengers traveled through the airport.
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2 Terminals 3 Transit 4 Expansion Plans 5 External Links |
The airport was originally a balloon launching base named Kinloch Field. The Wright brothers visited the field while touring with their aircraft, and Theodore Roosevelt flew on their aircraft while it was visiting, becoming the first U.S. president to fly.
In 1920, Major Albert Bond Lambert purchased the field and developed it into an airport with hangars and a terminal. Charles Lindbergh departed the airport for his record-breaking flight to Paris in 1927. Later that year, Lambert sold the airport, now known as Lambert Field, to the City of St. Louis. Lambert thus became the first municipal airport in the United States.
Before World War II, Robertson Airlines, Marquette Airlines, and Eastern Airlines provided passenger service to St. Louis. During the war, the airport became a manufacturing base for McDonnell Aircraft and Curtiss-Wright.
After the war, Minoru Yamasaki was commissioned to design a new passenger terminal at Lambert. Completed in 1956, the four-domed terminal design inspired future terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris.
Trans World Airlines gradually became Lambert's dominant carrier, and established a hub there in the 1980s. The St. Louis hub survived TWA's bankruptcy in 1993, and by the late 1990's it accounted for almost all of the airline's operations.
After American Airlines bought TWA and merged its flight operations in 2001, Lambert became a reliever for American's existing hubs at Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth. American transferred many mainline TWA routes to American Connection, a group of affiliated regional carriers. Passenger traffic, which peaked at 30.5 million in 2000, dropped to 20.4 million in 2003.
The airport is served by two Metrolink light rail stations, which offer direct service to downtown St. Louis and the suburbs in Illinois.
Lambert Airport is in the first phase of a major expansion, the largest capital improvement project in St. Louis history. It is expected to be completed in the first part of 2006. The first phase includes:
History
Terminals
Terminal 1
Concourse A
Concourse B
Concourse C
Concourse D
Terminal 2
Concourse E
Transit
Expansion Plans
The $1.1 billion first phase is funded by fees collected from users of the aviation system.