Paine Field’s past, present and future

Published 9:00 pm Monday, July 4, 2005

Paine Field was meant to be a boost to the economy, built in 1936 as part of a New Deal plan to create 10 “super airports” around the country.

The super airport never opened, and instead the Army Air Corps and Air Force moved in.

In 1941, the airport was named for Topliff Olin Paine, a nationally recognized Air Mail Service pilot who grew up in Everett.

In 1966, Boeing replaced the Air Force as the major tenant of Paine Field, and the company came north to build its giant 747 factory.

In the 1970s, Snohomish County began studying long-term uses of Paine Field that resulted in 1978 in a series of documents referred to as the Mediated Role Determination.

The plans called for developing the airport as a general aviation facility for light aircraft while discouraging air cargo and passenger service.

In 1979, county commissioners adopted amendments developed by a panel of government agencies, citizens and airport users. Those documents specifically allow “commuter service” at the airport.

“Airport staff have generally assumed the intent of the documents to include scheduled air service by most large aircraft as a discouraged activity,” according to Paine Field’s Web site.

However, the county doesn’t have the last word. When the federal government gave the airport back to the county in the 1960s, one of the conditions was that it be maintained it as an aviation facility.

Flights at Paine Field peaked at 225,000 a year in the late 1970s. It saw 215,000 flights in 2000, and annual flights have dropped since. By 2004, the number dropped to its lowest level since 1982, with 128,000 takeoffs and landings.

The Federal Aviation Administration opened a new $8 million control tower in 2003.

Another major project is the Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour.

The proposed facility will house the Boeing Tour Center, an aviation gallery and conference center. The 73,068 square foot county-owned facility will cost approximately $22 million and open this fall. Plans include an adjacent 100-room Hilton Garden Inn, which is also under construction and expected to open this fall.

Source: Paine Field and Herald archives Online: www.painefield.com

Boeing Field was primary airport before Sea-Tac

In 1928, King County voters approved a $950,000 plan for construction of the region’s first municipal airport.

Originally named in honor of Boeing Company founder William Boeing, the airport supported the early growth of the Boeing Company and served as a regional center for the burgeoning commercial and recreational aviation industries.

The airport was taken over by the federal government the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Its location was strategically important, both geographically and to Boeing production. During World War II, the airport was devoted to producing thousands of B-17 and B-29 bombers.

After the war, Boeing Field reopened for civilian use and it served as the area’s primary passenger airport until the development of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Source: King County, www.metrokc.gov/airport