Boeing Field

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King County International Airport (Boeing Field)

IATA: BFI - ICAO: KBFI
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		King County
Serves		Seattle, Washington
Elevation AMSL		21 ft (6.4 m)
Coordinates		47°31′48″N, 122°18′07″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
13R/31L	10,001	3,048	Asphalt
13L/31R	3,709	1,131	Asphalt

Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport (IATA: BFI, ICAO: KBFI) is a two-runway airport owned and run by King County, Washington. The airport has some passenger service, but is mostly used by general aviation and cargo. It is named after the founder of the Boeing Company, William E. Boeing.

The airport's property is located mostly in Seattle just south of Georgetown, with its southern tip extending into Tukwila. It is 594 acres (2.4 km²) in area and handles more than 375,000 operations yearly.

With the exception of the World War II period, when it was taken over by the U.S. government, Boeing Field was Seattle's main passenger airport from its construction in 1928 until Seattle-Tacoma International Airport began operations in the late 1940s. The Boeing Company continues to use the field for testing and delivery of its airplanes, and it is still a major regional cargo hub.

Boeing Field currently lacks any major commercial passenger airline service. A proposal by Southwest Airlines in June 2005 was submitted to King County to relocate their operations in the Seattle area from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Boeing Field, but was rejected by King County Executive Ron Sims in October. A similar proposal by Alaska Airlines (a response to the Southwest proposal) was also rejected. Southwest Airlines' publicized rationale for the proposed move was so they could avoid the heavy fees being levied at Sea-Tac due to its expansion program.

King County is currently pushing a complex three-way deal which would transfer ownership of its airport to the Port of Seattle, which operates nearby Sea-Tac International Airport. In exchange, the Port would purchase the Woodinville Subdivision, a 47 mile railroad on the eastern side of Lake Washington, from Burlington Northern Railway for approximately $103 million and transfer it to the County. The County would then remove the tracks and replace them with a bicycle trail at a cost of $66 million. However, this plan has raised a storm of controversy.^{[citation needed]} One objection is that the value of the airport could be around one billion dollars (based on recent sales of nearby land plus improvements), which is many times what a bicycle trail serving a few hundred commuters a day would be worth. Another is intense opposition on the Eastside to removal of tracks from a railroad that is still used for freight service and the popular Spirit of Washington dinner train, which makes a substantial contribution to the local economy. Also, as it runs parallel to the most congested freeway in the region, the railroad has excellent potential for transit use.

The Museum of Flight is located on the southwestern corner of the airfield, and aircraft movement can be easily observed from the museum.