Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Jackson Hole Airport (KJAC) sits at 6,430 feet amid the Teton Range, the only commercial airport in the United States located within a national park. Serving the town of Jackson, Wyoming, it offers a single instrument-equipped runway and a dramatic high-altitude approach beneath the Tetons that makes it a memorable if demanding destination for visiting pilots.
Jackson Hole Airport lies wholly within the boundary of Grand Teton National Park, a status unique among American commercial airports. It serves the resort town of Jackson and the surrounding valley known as Jackson Hole, and its high elevation, mountainous surroundings and noise-sensitive environment make it a distinctive and challenging field for visiting pilots to study before arrival.
The airport is located within Grand Teton National Park, about seven miles north of the town of Jackson, Wyoming, at the base of the Teton Range. Salt Lake Center provides en-route radar service in the area (133.25 MHz), and Casper Radio handles flight service duties on 122.05 MHz.
The airport has a single physical runway, 01/19, 6,304 feet long with a hard, lit surface. An ILS is available for runway 19.
ATIS is broadcast on 120.625 MHz, with an AWOS-3 automated weather observation on 135.175 MHz. The tower and CTAF operate on 118.075 MHz, with ground control on 124.55 MHz and unicom on 122.95 MHz. Salt Lake Center covers the area on 133.25 MHz, and Casper Radio provides flight service on 122.05 MHz. An ILS approach serves runway 19.
Jackson Hole is a noise-sensitive location and operates a Fly Quiet Program aimed at reducing the impact of aircraft operations on the surrounding national park; older, noisier stage-II aircraft are barred from using the field. Pilots should expect terrain-influenced traffic patterns given the mountainous surroundings and the airport's high elevation.
The airport sits directly beneath the Teton Range, and the jagged, snow-capped peaks of the Tetons together with the wide floor of the Jackson Hole valley form the principal visual references for pilots approaching from any direction. The field's setting inside Grand Teton National Park makes the surrounding forested and mountainous terrain instantly recognisable on approach.
The airport originated in the 1930s as the best available site for an airfield in Teton County, and its original terminal was built to resemble a pioneer log cabin. It was designated part of a national monument in 1943 and was merged into Grand Teton National Park in 1950. Commercial operations began in 1946, and the runway was extended to its current length in 1959, the same year the original Frontier Airlines began service to Denver, Salt Lake City and Billings using Douglas DC-3s. President John F. Kennedy landed at the airfield in an Army helicopter on September 25, 1963. During the 1960s and 1970s a plan to extend the runway to 8,000 feet to accommodate jet aircraft was considered but successfully opposed by the National Park Service; jets nonetheless began using the existing runway in the late 1970s. The valley and airport take their name from fur trapper David E. Jackson, for whom the mountain-ringed valley was originally known as "Davey Jackson's Hole."
Jackson Hole Airport is the busiest airport in Wyoming by passenger traffic and remains the only commercial airport in the country located inside a national park. It is served year-round by Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, with seasonal service from Sun Country Airlines; due to the short, high-altitude runway the largest aircraft regularly seen is the Boeing 757-200. The airport enforces a ban on older, noisier stage-II aircraft and runs a Fly Quiet noise-mitigation programme, and it holds certification as the world's first International Dark Sky airport. The terminal, rebuilt between 2009 and 2014 to blend with its national park surroundings, has no jet bridges, with passengers boarding via airstairs on the ramp.
