Departure
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Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport is the principal airport serving Jackson, Mississippi, lying across the Pearl River in Rankin County between the suburbs of Flowood and Pearl. It is a city-owned civil-military field with two long parallel hard-surfaced runways, full ILS approaches and Class C airspace, making it a straightforward destination for both airline traffic and general aviation visitors flying VFR into the area.
Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport (KJAN) is the main commercial and general aviation airport for the Jackson metropolitan area, situated roughly six miles east of Downtown Jackson on the far side of the Pearl River. It is a city-owned civil-military facility, administered by the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, which also oversees Hawkins Field on the other side of the city. For a simulator pilot, KJAN offers the appeal of two substantial parallel runways, an ILS-equipped approach environment and a Class C traffic pattern typical of a mid-sized American international airport, combined with a name and history tied directly to the American civil rights movement through its namesake, Medgar Evers.
KJAN sits within Class C airspace, reflecting its status as a controlled, airline-served international airport. The field is located in Rankin County, Mississippi, between the suburbs of Flowood and Pearl, roughly six miles east of Downtown Jackson across the Pearl River. Jackson Municipal Airport Authority also administers Hawkins Field (HKS) in northwest Jackson, which serves as the area's other general aviation and reliever airport.
KJAN has two parallel hard-surfaced runways, both lit. Runway 16L/34R is 8,497 feet long, with an ILS approach available to Runway 16L. Runway 16R/34L is 8,483 feet long, with an ILS approach available to Runway 34L. Field elevation is 318 feet.
Air traffic services at KJAN include Approach/Departure on 123.9 MHz, an ATIS on 121.05 MHz, ground control on 121.7 MHz, and tower/CTAF on 120.9 MHz. A UNICOM frequency of 122.95 MHz is also listed. Additional published frequencies include an Air National Guard command post on 26.46 MHz and a Greenwood radio frequency of 122.2 MHz. Two ILS approaches are available, serving Runway 16L and Runway 34L.
The airport lies close to the Pearl River, which separates it from Downtown Jackson to the west, and it sits between the communities of Flowood and Pearl in Rankin County, both useful landmarks for orientation on approach.
Groundbreaking for the airport took place on 17 August 1959, with construction expected to take two years and to cost around 6 million dollars. The new field, built on land obtained with the help of then Mayor Allen C. Thompson, opened in 1963 as a replacement for Hawkins Field, which had served Jackson since 1928. The site retained the name Allen C. Thompson Field even as the airport itself operated as Jackson Municipal Airport. In the early 1990s it became known as Jackson International Airport, reflecting its customs facilities and Foreign Trade Zone status, despite having no scheduled international flights. Following a Jackson City Council decision in December 2004, the airport was renamed Jackson-Evers International Airport on 22 January 2005, honouring Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP Field Secretary assassinated during the civil rights era; the fuller name Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport is used today. Over the following decades the airport saw a long list of carriers serve Jackson, including Delta, Southern Airways, Texas International, Frontier, Eastern, Northwest, Continental, American and US Airways, with Delta remaining the airport's longest-serving carrier since the 1920s. In March 2011 the airport was ranked eighth-best in the world in a consumer survey by Airports Council International, the only United States airport to place in the top ten that year.
KJAN continues to operate as a joint civil-military airport, handling scheduled commercial airline traffic alongside private and military aviation. It is owned by the City of Jackson and administered by the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, which also manages Hawkins Field elsewhere in the city.
