Sacramento International Airport

Sacramento International Airport
Lower floor of the new Terminal B.
IATA: SMF ICAO: KSMF FAA LID: SMF
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	County of Sacramento
Operator	Sacramento County Airport System
Serves	Sacramento, California
Location	Sacramento County, California, U.S.
Elevation AMSL	27 ft / 8 m
Coordinates	38°41′44″N 121°35′27″W / 38.69556°N 121.59083°W / 38.69556; -121.59083Coordinates: 38°41′44″N 121°35′27″W / 38.69556°N 121.59083°W / 38.69556; -121.59083
Website	www.sacramento.aero/smf/
Map
SMF Location in California
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 16L/34R 8,605 2,623 Concrete (150 ft or 46 m wide) 16R/34L 8,598 2,621 Asphalt (150 ft or 46 m wide)
Statistics (2016)
Passengers 10,118,794 Aircraft operations 111,197
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Sacramento International Airport (IATA: SMF, ICAO: KSMF, FAA LID: SMF) is 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Sacramento, in Sacramento County, California. It is run by the Sacramento County Airport System. Southwest Airlines carries about half the airline passengers. Sacramento International Airport served more than 10 million passengers in 2016.

Due to housing growth around Sacramento Executive Airport, the City of Sacramento Planning Department and the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors commissioned a study in the 1950s to move airline flights to a less populated area. In 1957 the proposed construction of Sacramento Metropolitan Airport and purchase of nearly 6,000 acres north of downtown Sacramento was considered extravagant, risky, poorly located and based on unrealistic passenger expectations.

Sacramento International Airport (SMF) opened October 21, 1967 as Sacramento Metropolitan Airport with one 8600-foot runway. Until then the airlines used Sacramento Municipal Airport (SAC), now called Sacramento Executive Airport. The estimate of 750,000 annual passengers soon proved conservative as the airport surpassed one million passengers during its first year. Sacramento Metropolitan Airport was the first airport west of the Mississippi built from the ground up for public use.

The airport initially had five airlines: Pacific Air Lines, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), United Airlines, Western Airlines and West Coast Airlines. For a short time around 1975 PSA tried Lockheed L-1011 TriStars at Sacramento, nonstop to San Francisco and direct to Los Angeles. L-1011 flights were found uneconomical and PSA soon replaced the L-1011 with smaller jets such as the Boeing 727-200.