МидАмерика Сент-Луис әуежайы: тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

Commercial airport serving St. Louis, Missouri, United States; located in Belleville, Illinois
the military use of this facility

MidAmerica St. Louis Airport is a public use airport next to Scott Air Force Base. It is located east of downtown St. Louis and east of the central business district of Belleville in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. (302,000 total passengers It is the fifth busiest of the 12 commercial airports In Illinois.

MidAmerica St. Louis Airport was created to alleviate crowding at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, but had been criticized as a pork barrel project. Featured several times on a "Fleecing of America" segment on the NBC Nightly News, it was called a "Gateway to Nowhere" by Tom Brokaw, costing taxpayers $313 million. Congestion at Lambert Airport has not been a problem since American Airlines ended hub operations at the airport and a new billion dollar runway opened in 2006. As of 2021, nearly $125 million in county taxpayers has been spent covering the airport's deficits. The airport's biggest revenue source is fuel sales to Boeing, which test flies drones for the U. S. Navy. The airport will be paying its construction debt from 1995 until 2045, costing taxpayers an additional $88 million. Supporters credit MidAmerica's additional runway with saving Scott AFB from closure during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process. They also describe MidAmerica as a "Gateway to the World", citing a new cargo terminal and customs facility designed to handle international cargo. Passenger service has increased since Allegiant Air restarted service in 2012 with flights to 12 destinations. In 2018, MidAmerica Airport was named "Airport of the Year" for airports that see more than 10,000 passengers annually by the Illinois Department of Transportation. In 2021, a Bureau of Transportation study found it among the nation's five least expensive airports.

Four passenger airlines have operated from MidAmerica. Since 2005, only Allegiant Airlines has operated from the airport. On August 16, 2000, Pan American Airways (Pan Am) debuted at MidAmerica airport. In the spring of 2001, Pan Am was serving the airport as a stop on a Boeing 727 200 route between Orlando Sanford International Airport and Gary/Chicago International Airport. The airline was hit hard by the drop in airline travel after the 9/11 attacks, and ceased to operate at the airport on December 3, 2001. Great Plains Airlines began service in late 2003 with flights to Chicago Midway Airport, Washington Dulles Airport, and Tulsa. The carrier filed for bankruptcy in January 2004 and ultimately ceased all operations. It resumed service on November 7, 2012, with twice weekly direct flights between MidAmerica and Orlando/Sanford beginning on November 7, 2012. Direct flights have since been added to several additional destinations.

From the onset, the passenger terminal was planned for easy expansion if needed. The passenger terminal sits in a 250 foot wide by 700 foot long expansion envelope bounded by a runway and parking lot. The initial build out has two upper level departure gates with jet bridges and some ground level gates to serve smaller commuter aircraft. In September 2020, the airport received $6.5 million in federal grants to expand the terminal. There are four phases to the terminal expansion. The first phase was completed in spring 2020. The second phase began in late 2020 and was to be completed in 2021. The final phase is to be completed by the end of 2023. The project will add 41,000 square feet to the existing terminal. This space will be used for a relocated and upgraded security checkpoint, two additional jet bridges, a service animal relief area, family restrooms, a nursing room, an expanded departure lounge and added room for concessions. It will also better accommodate people with disabilities.

MidAmerica St. Louis Airport covers and has two runways:

In September 2022, construction began on an extension to Taxiway Lima as well as a new Taxiway Bridge over Crooked Creek to connect the airport to a new aviation business park. Taxiway construction was completed in 2023. A new Boeing Production Facility is already underway as the first tenant to build the MQ 25 unmanned aircraft.

Between late 2009 and August 2010, one air cargo company, LAN Cargo, used the airport to import flowers from Bogota, Colombia, totaling one flight each week until the county abruptly ended the flights. Both Boeing Defense, Space & Security and North Bay Produce currently have facilities on site. North Bay Produce primarily ships blueberries from Michigan and Chile into the airport; they use a completely refrigerated warehouse for packaging and distribution. Boeing uses the facility at MidAmerica for sub assemblies for multiple military aircraft.

In late April 2019, the first MQ 25 Stingray test aircraft (T 1 or "Tail 1") was taken by road from Boeing's technical plant at St. Louis's Lambert International Airport across the Mississippi River to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, which is conjoined to Scott Air Force Base. Test flying was expected to commence at MidAmerica late in 2019, after taxi tests and the Federal Aviation Administration’s certifying the aircraft and granting airspace for flight testing. The first test flight occurred on September 19, 2019. In Addition: "Boeing plans to build three new, state of the art facilities in St. Louis These facilities, as well as the new Advanced Composite Fabrication Center in Arizona, and the new MQ 25 production facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, represent more than a $1 billion investment."