Airport (1970 film)

Airport
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Seaton
Produced by	Ross Hunter
Screenplay by	George Seaton
Based on	Airport by Arthur Hailey
Starring	Burt Lancaster Dean Martin Jean Seberg Jacqueline Bisset George Kennedy Helen Hayes Van Heflin
Music by	Alfred Newman
Cinematography	Ernest Laszlo
Edited by	Stuart Gilmore
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	March 5, 1970
Running time	137 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10.2 million
Box office	$100.5 million

Airport is a 1970 American disaster-drama film starring Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin, directed and written by George Seaton, and based on Arthur Hailey's 1968 novel of the same name. It originated the 1970s disaster film genre. It is also the first in the Airport film series.

Produced on a $10 million budget, it earned nearly $100 million. The film is about an airport manager trying to keep his airport open during a snowstorm, while a suicidal bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 airliner in flight. It takes place at fictional Lincoln International Airport near Chicago, Illinois. The film was a commercial success and surpassed Spartacus as Universal Pictures' biggest moneymaker. The movie won Helen Hayes an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as an elderly stowaway and was nominated for nine other Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design for designer Edith Head.

With attention paid to the detail of day-to-day airport and airline operations, the plot concerns the response to a paralyzing snowstorm, environmental concerns over noise pollution, and an attempt to blow up an airliner. The film is characterized by personal stories intertwining while decisions are made minute-by-minute by the airport and airline staffs, operations and maintenance crews, flight crews, and Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers.