History
Construction of the airport started in 1965, in order for the city to accommodate a more cosmopolitan populace which was introduced with the sizable naval bases in the region. The Jacksonville International Airport was dedicated on September 1, 1968, replacing Imeson Field. Imeson Field had to be replaced because of the advent of commercial jet travel and the longer takeoff runs required by jet airliners. The terrain prohibited lengthening the runways at Imeson Field. A new idea that was tried in the construction of the Jacksonville International Airport was separating departing and arriving passengers on different sides of the terminal (as can be seen in the photo on this page). This is no longer the case, and the airport (which has been greatly expanded since the picture was taken) now utilizes the more typical configuration whereby departing passengers are served on an upper level, accessed via an elevated roadway, while arriving passengers utilize the lower level of the terminal.
Initially, Jacksonville International Airport was slow to expand, only serving two million passengers a year by 1982. However, additional airline service in the late 1980s and early 1990s increased the need for space in the complex. The airport served over five million passengers annually by 1999, and an expansion plan was approved in 2000. The first phase, which included rebuilding the landside terminal, the central square and main concessions area, as well as consolidating the security checkpoints in a single location, and adding more parking capacity was completed in 2004-2005. In 2007, 6,319,016 passengers were processed.
Read more about this topic: Jacksonville International Airport
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—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)