Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Long Island MacArthur Airport (KISP) is a Class C airport in Ronkonkoma, on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, offering general aviation and airline pilots an alternative to the congested airspace around JFK and LaGuardia. Owned and operated by the Town of Islip, it has been in continuous use since its activation as a wartime airfield in 1943 and today combines scheduled airline service with a busy general aviation base.
Long Island MacArthur Airport, known to airline passengers as ISP and to pilots by its ICAO code KISP, sits in Ronkonkoma within the Town of Islip on Long Island. It is owned and operated by the Town of Islip and serves as a less congested alternative to New York City's main airports for both general aviation and scheduled airline traffic. For a simulator pilot, MacArthur offers a long, ILS-equipped main runway, a full complement of towered airspace services, and a mix of airline and light-aircraft traffic that makes for an interesting New York-area destination away from the pressure of JFK or LaGuardia.
KISP lies within Class C controlled airspace, placing it under the authority of New York Approach/Departure for arrivals and departures. The airfield is in Ronkonkoma, within the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, on Long Island, and lies within the wider New York terminal area, sharing the region's airspace structure with JFK and LaGuardia even though it is physically removed from their immediate congestion.
MacArthur has four paved runways. The main runway, 06/24, is 6,993 feet long, hard-surfaced, lit, and equipped with an ILS. Runway 15R/33L is 5,169 to 5,170 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 10/28 is 5,021 feet long and hard-surfaced. Runway 15L/33R is 3,121 feet long and hard-surfaced. Field elevation is 89 feet.
Pilots can expect ATIS on 120.725 MHz, Clearance Delivery on 121.85 MHz, Ground on 135.3 MHz, and Tower on 119.3 MHz, which also serves as the common traffic frequency. New York Approach/Departure works arriving and departing traffic on 118 MHz, and New York Radio can be reached on 122.6 MHz for flight service. UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Runway 06/24 is equipped with an ILS for instrument approaches.
As Class C airspace, KISP requires aircraft to establish two-way radio communication with New York Approach or the tower before entering the airspace, and pilots should expect to be sequenced and given instructions for joining rather than flying a self-announced pattern. Specific circuit altitudes and noise abatement procedures are not detailed in the available information.
No published visual reporting points for KISP are given in the available information.
The airfield originated in April 1942 when the Town of Islip contracted with the federal government to build an airport on town land for military use. The Civil Aeronautics Administration, forerunner of today's FAA, funded construction of the airport and its three original paved runways under the wartime Development of Landing Areas for National Defense program. Originally named Islip Airport, it was renamed MacArthur Airport at the suggestion of local official Charles H. Duryea, honouring General Douglas MacArthur following his escape from the Philippines during the Second World War. The airport was officially activated in May 1943. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation built the first hangar in 1944, and the Town of Islip built the first terminal building in 1949 ahead of airline operations. Through the 1950s the Sperry Corporation carried out aerospace research at the field, and in 1947 the Town of Islip's offer of the airport to the Port of New York Authority was declined because of its location outside the port region. Scheduled airline service began in 1960 when Allegheny Airlines started flights to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Mohawk Airlines followed in 1967, and American Airlines began nonstop Boeing 727 service to Chicago O'Hare in 1971. The current terminal was completed in 1966, and over subsequent decades a succession of carriers, including Allegheny (later USAir and US Airways), Braniff and Carnival Air Lines, operated jet services from the field. In February 2024 the FAA approved plans for a new terminal on the airport's north side as part of the Midway Crossing project, and JetBlue began service at MacArthur later that year.
MacArthur Airport today handles a mix of scheduled airline and general aviation traffic, with airlines including Avelo, Breeze, Cape Air, Frontier, JetBlue and Southwest operating from the field. General aviation makes up the majority of movements, and the airport has long served as a base for a substantial fleet of single and multi-engine aircraft, jets and helicopters. It is designated for customs and landing rights, reflecting its capability to handle international arrivals alongside its domestic operations.
