Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport
Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport (IATA: BHM[4], ICAO: KBHM, FAA LID: BHM), formerly Birmingham Municipal Airport and later Birmingham International Airport, is a civil-military airport serving Birmingham, Alabama. The airport also provides scheduled airline service for the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa metropolitan areas. It is located in Jefferson County, five miles northeast of Downtown Birmingham, near the interchange of Interstates 20 and 59.
This article is about the airport in the U.S. state of Alabama. For the airport in England, United Kingdom, see Birmingham Airport.
Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport
Public
City of Birmingham
Birmingham Airport Authority
May 31, 1931
650 ft / 198 m
98,681
98,681
230
3,056,215
1,523,796
57,580,334 pounds
BHM served 3,056,215 passengers in 2023, and is the largest and busiest airport in the state of Alabama by passenger volume.[5] The airfield can handle all aircraft types. The main runway is 12,007 feet (3,660 m) long.[6] The secondary runway is 7,099 feet (2,164 m) long. A Category II ILS allows operations in visibility as low as a quarter-mile. The airport was renamed in July 2008 after Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, founding president of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and a leader of the Birmingham campaign during the civil rights movement.
The airport carries the designation of an international airport and has a staffed U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility on site. There have been scheduled seasonal international flights to the Bahamas, Canada, and Mexico in the past, but as of March 2020, there are no scheduled international flights. However, air ambulance operator AirMed International regularly operates to and from destinations throughout the world; corporate aircraft routinely depart and arrive from foreign destinations, as well. The Southern Museum of Flight currently operates on Airport Authority property, to the east side of the north–south runway. There are plans for it to relocate to a new site near the Barber Motorsports Park.
Controversy[edit]
In September 2013, Atlanta-based ExpressJet Airlines, the then largest regional US passenger airline, told its pilots to avoid landing on Runway 18, following the crash of UPS Airlines Flight 1354 in Birmingham. An internal review following the accident concluded planes come "dangerously close" to nearby hills if even a few feet too low, that there is a significant "terrain threat" and a non-standard glide path. An aviation safety expert said the runway is "absolutely" safe.[75]
A Delta Air Lines MD-88 taxis past the two United States Air National Guard 117th Air Refueling Wing hangars, a 117th KC-135, and the airport fire station at Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport.
The main entrance to Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport
A Delta A319 pushing back at BHM
