Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Norfolk International Airport (KORF) is a regional commercial and cargo airport seven miles northeast of downtown Norfolk, Virginia, serving the Hampton Roads area. Owned and operated by the Norfolk Airport Authority, it combines airline, cargo and general aviation traffic within controlled airspace, and offers a long primary runway with instrument approach guidance for visiting pilots. Originally opened in 1938 as Norfolk Municipal Airport, the field has grown through several name changes into today's small-hub international gateway.
Norfolk International Airport, ICAO KORF and IATA ORF, lies in Norfolk, Virginia, and is owned and operated by the Norfolk Airport Authority, a bureau of the city government. It functions as a regional commercial and cargo airport serving the Hampton Roads metropolitan area and northeast North Carolina, and is a small hub under FAA categorisation, making it of interest to simulator pilots wanting a mix of airline, cargo and general aviation traffic in a controlled environment.
The airport sits about seven miles (11 km) northeast of downtown Norfolk, Virginia, and is tagged as Class C airspace with customs and landing-rights facilities. It shares the Hampton Roads region with Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, which also serves the metropolitan area.
Norfolk International has two physical runway pairs. The main runway, 05/23, is a hard-surfaced, lit runway with an ILS on both alignments, measuring 7,991 feet on runway 05 and 8,998 feet on runway 23. The secondary runway, 14/32, is also hard-surfaced and lit, measuring 4,655 feet on runway 14 and 4,872 feet on runway 32. The field elevation is 16 feet.
Communications at Norfolk include approach frequencies of 128.83 MHz and 118.9 MHz, a departure frequency of 125.2 MHz, ground control on 121.9 MHz, tower on 120.8 MHz, ATIS on 127.15 MHz, and clearance delivery on 118.5 MHz. A radio navigation frequency of 116.9 MHz (associated with Leesburg) is also listed. Runway 05/23 is equipped with an ILS for instrument approaches.
As a Class C controlled aerodrome, all arriving and departing traffic at Norfolk International is required to establish two-way communication with approach control and obtain clearance before entering the surrounding airspace, with tower control handling the runway environment itself.
Norfolk's aviation story began in 1926 with the Mitten Line's brief commercial service to Washington and Philadelphia. In 1929 Ben Epstein, a World War I veteran pilot, set up an air taxi service from a field on Granby Street, from which the Ludington Line began the first daily scheduled service to Washington, D.C. Naval objections to expansion near Norfolk Naval Air Station pushed operations to Glenrock Airport in 1932, and the Great Depression then grounded commercial flying for five years. Norfolk Municipal Airport was established in 1938 on the site of the former Truxton Manor Golf Course, with a 3,500-foot runway and a terminal completed in 1940. During the Second World War the Army Air Corps operated the field from 1942 to 1947, lengthening the runway and adding two more. After the war the airport returned to city control, and Piedmont Airlines began service in 1948 as a new terminal was begun. By the early 1950s Norfolk had more daily flights than New York's La Guardia, and the Norfolk Port and Industrial Authority took over management in 1950, dedicating a new terminal in 1951. The 1960s brought the transition to jet aircraft and longer runways and taxiways, and in 1968 the airport was renamed Norfolk Regional Airport. A new terminal followed in 1974, along with Federal Customs facilities in 1976 and new fire, maintenance and control tower facilities; the airport was renamed Norfolk International Airport during this period. The 1980s saw a new general aviation facility, air cargo terminal and expanded parking, and in 1988 the Norfolk Port and Industrial Authority was renamed the Norfolk Airport Authority. Growth continued through the 1990s with further expansion of cargo, parking and passenger facilities.
Norfolk International today operates as a small-hub commercial and cargo airport under the Norfolk Airport Authority, serving Hampton Roads and northeast North Carolina and ranking as the third-busiest airport in Virginia by passenger numbers, behind Washington Dulles and Reagan National. It is an operating base for Breeze Airways. In its most recent Skytrax survey the airport was ranked fourth worldwide among the World's Best Domestic Airports for carriers handling fewer than five million passengers, the only airport in the United States to achieve that recognition. A multi-phase improvement programme, begun in 2018, has been under way to modernise terminals, concourses and the general aviation facility.