Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Jacksonville International Airport (KJAX) is a civil-military field 13 miles north of downtown Jacksonville, Florida, offering two long concrete runways with ILS approaches and full airport traffic control. It shares its ramp with an Air National Guard fighter wing and handles a substantial mix of airline, air taxi, military and general aviation traffic, making it a straightforward but busy Class C destination for visiting VFR pilots.
Jacksonville International Airport sits within the Jacksonville city-county limits, about 13 miles (21 km) north of Downtown Jacksonville in Duval County, Florida. It is owned and operated by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority and functions as a civil-military aerodrome, sharing its runways with an Air National Guard fighter unit. For a visiting simulator pilot it offers two substantial hard-surfaced runways, published ILS approaches and a full tower and approach service, making it a realistic if busy general aviation and airline destination.
KJAX lies under Class C airspace and is served by its own approach/departure and tower facilities. It is a civil-military field, with the Air National Guard maintaining a fully equipped crash fire rescue station alongside the airport's own fire department to support both airfield operations and military flying. The field replaced the former Imeson Field as Jacksonville's main airport in 1968.
Jacksonville International has two physical runways. Runway 08/26 is 9,969 ft long, hard-surfaced, lit, and equipped with ILS on both ends. Runway 14/32 is 7,681 ft long, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS approach available on runway 14.
Air traffic services are provided under the callsign Jacksonville Tower on 118.3 MHz, with Ground control on 121.9 MHz and Clearance Delivery on 119.5 MHz. Approach and Departure control operates on 118 MHz, and the ATIS broadcasts on 125.85 MHz. UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Instrument approaches are available, with ILS serving runway 08/26 in both directions and runway 14.
As a Class C, tower-controlled airport with a co-located Air National Guard flying unit, arriving and departing traffic at KJAX is sequenced by approach control and tower rather than through informal circuit joining; pilots should expect radar vectors and standard IFR/VFR flow into the two-runway layout.
Construction of the airport began in 1965 to serve Jacksonville's growing air travel needs and to support nearby naval bases, with the field dedicated on September 1, 1968 as a replacement for Imeson Field, whose runways could not be lengthened to accommodate jet airliners. On closure of Imeson, the 125th Fighter-Interceptor Group of the Florida Air National Guard relocated to the new airport, beginning its long-standing military presence on the field. Passenger traffic grew steadily from two million a year in 1982 to over five million by 1999, prompting a major expansion approved in 2000 that rebuilt the terminal, consolidated security and rebuilt Concourses A and C between 2006 and roughly 2009. Concourse B was demolished in 2009 amid reduced post-recession traffic and, after being deferred several times, ground was broken on a new Concourse B in May 2024, with completion anticipated by the end of 2026.
Jacksonville International today operates as a mixed-use civil-military airport, handling scheduled airline services, air taxi operations, general aviation traffic and a significant Air National Guard presence; in the year ending February 2023 the airport recorded around 99,600 aircraft operations, with military flights, based jets and light aircraft all sharing the field. The Air National Guard unit based here employs several hundred full-time personnel alongside part-time guardsmen, and maintains its own fire and rescue capability. The airport's dual long runways and ILS approaches on both principal runways support both military and civil training and operational flying.
