Cities with alternate airports

Eindhoven · Sat May 20, 2017 6:04 pm

I'm looking for cities that have smaller alternate airports next to their primary airports. Not counting multiple major airports in one city and also excluding small airfields without airline traffic but true substitutes for airlines that want to serve that city but not the main airport.

So far I got:

AVV as alternative to MEL
BLV as alternative to STL
CIA as alternative to FCO
CRL as alternative to BRU
FMM as alternative to MUC
HHN as alternative to FRA
IEV as alternative to KBP
NRN as alternative to DUS
PIE as alternative to TPA
PIK as alternative to GLA
SFB as alternative to MCO
TRF as alternative to OSL
WMI as alternative to WAW

How much more can you list?

AWACSooner · Sat May 20, 2017 6:47 pm

Any airport that FR flies into that's within 500 miles of a major city...

ChristopherS · Sat May 20, 2017 7:09 pm

They're not legally in the same city, but it's a very official alternate airport... OAK to SFO

VCPJetter · Sat May 20, 2017 7:11 pm

CGH or VCP as alternative to GRU
SDU as alternative to GIG
LCY as alternative to LHR
EWR as alternative to JFK
FLL as alternative to MIA
etc.

I think there are a lot over the world.

c933103 · Sat May 20, 2017 7:30 pm

Tokyo - Chofu, Ibaraki
Nagoya - Komaki
Osaka - Kobe
Sapporo - Okadama
Beijing - Nanyuan
Guangzhou - Foshan
Fukuoka - Saga, Kitakyushu
Hiroshima - Iwakuni

PatrickZ80 · Sat May 20, 2017 7:35 pm

VCPJetter wrote:
CGH or VCP as alternative to GRU
SDU as alternative to GIG
LCY as alternative to LHR
EWR as alternative to JFK
FLL as alternative to MIA
etc.

I think there are a lot over the world.

I think Newark doesn't count since it's just one of the primary airports of New York. For New York you could say Westchester County, Long Island MacArthur and even Stewart are the alternatives. JFK, Newark and even La Guardia are just plain primary airports.

Same goes for Sao Paulo Congonhas, that's just one of the primary airports.

London City is a different case. Is it really an alternative, or is it more the location that makes it convenient? London is a bit complicated anyway. Heathrow is a primary airport for sure, but what about Gatwick? Primary or secondary? Where to draw the line? Stansted, Luton and Southend certainly count as alternatives, no doubt about that.

kabq737 · Sat May 20, 2017 7:36 pm

COS as an alternate to DEN.

fessor · Sat May 20, 2017 7:54 pm

DMK-BKK

alggag · Sat May 20, 2017 7:56 pm

MFE, HRL, and BRO all kind of serve as alternates to each other and you often see ads down in South Texas boasting about why one is better than the others.

PatrickZ80 · Sat May 20, 2017 8:06 pm

Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" airport makes a good alternative to Panama Tocumen airport.

Lanseria airport makes a good alternative to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo airport.

Ta'if airport makes a good alternative to Jeddah King Abdul Aziz airport.

Halim Perdanakusuma airport makes a good alternative to Jakarta Soekarno Hatta airport.

Hamilton airport makes a good alternative to Toronto Pearson airport.

Abbotsford makes a good alternative to Vancouver International airport.

Aliqiout · Sat May 20, 2017 8:07 pm

YYZ/YTZ
SEA/PAE
DFW/DAL
GLA/PIK
ORD/MDW

Aliqiout · Sat May 20, 2017 8:09 pm

CDG/ORY

rutankrd · Sat May 20, 2017 8:11 pm

Differing City Regions but a damn right closer than many above MAN/LPL

c933103 · Sat May 20, 2017 8:20 pm

Aliqiout wrote:
CDG/ORY

ORY is major?

777PHX · Sat May 20, 2017 8:25 pm

KIWA/KPHX. Has service from G4 and seasonal service from Westjet.
KBLV/KSTL. Originally designed to be a reliever for KSTL, has G4 service currently.

PatrickZ80 · Sat May 20, 2017 8:32 pm

c933103 wrote:
Aliqiout wrote:
CDG/ORY

ORY is major?

Orly is indeed a major airport just like Charles de Gaulle and therefor doesn't count. Beauvais is the alternate airport for Paris.

Drucocu · Sat May 20, 2017 8:48 pm

In the Netherlands, for intercontinental flights you could see EIN as an alternate for AMS. It can handle 787 and DC10 aircraft, I'm not sure if larger aircraft are possible. Immigration might be a different story. Arke/TUI (OR) wanted to start EIN-CUR/AUA, but those are higher risk destinations (narcotics etc.) and EIN doesn't have sufficient immigration facilities.

For your regular short/medium haul B737/A320 flights RTM and even GRQ are viable alternates for AMS, both only 20-30 minutes flying away.

mjoelnir · Sat May 20, 2017 9:07 pm

PatrickZ80 wrote:
c933103 wrote:
Aliqiout wrote:
CDG/ORY

ORY is major?

Orly is indeed a major airport just like Charles de Gaulle and therefor doesn't count. Beauvais is the alternate airport for Paris.

A strange definition for alternate. I think here it works only as the North American version to alternative (alternative, other, another, second, different, possible, substitute, replacement, deputy, relief, proxy, surrogate, cover, fill-in, stand-in, standby, emergency, reserve, backup, auxiliary, fallback). Alternate can hardly be used here in the sense one airplane here one airplane there.

That would make ORY an alternate airport to CDG, but BVA really not, as not being an alternative for, for example bigger airplanes.

c933103 · Sat May 20, 2017 9:20 pm

mjoelnir wrote:
PatrickZ80 wrote:
c933103 wrote:
ORY is major?

Orly is indeed a major airport just like Charles de Gaulle and therefor doesn't count. Beauvais is the alternate airport for Paris.

A strange definition for alternate. I think here it works only as the North American version to alternative (alternative, other, another, second, different, possible, substitute, replacement, deputy, relief, proxy, surrogate, cover, fill-in, stand-in, standby, emergency, reserve, backup, auxiliary, fallback). Alternate can hardly be used here in the sense one airplane here one airplane there.

That would make ORY an alternate airport to CDG, but BVA really not, as not being an alternative for, for example bigger airplanes.

well, what you're saying seems to be an alternative airport in operational standpoint that if the main airport being unavailable then what could be used as alternative, but what I read from OP's message seems to be from airline scheduling point of view that what airport can an airline used to serve a city other than those that people usually connect with.

cheeken · Sat May 20, 2017 9:46 pm

This is seldom known by many outside of Singapore:

XSP as an alternative to SIN. Used to have Berjaya Air flights up till 2010, currently only chartered operations. Will have a new passenger terminal by 2018 and all turboprop flights will shift from SIN to XSP (not that there are many!)

VSMUT · Sat May 20, 2017 10:10 pm

Bucharest Otopeni (OTP) and the smaller Baneasa airport which is located on the road between Otopeni and the city centre.

mjoelnir · Sat May 20, 2017 10:41 pm

c933103 wrote:
mjoelnir wrote:
PatrickZ80 wrote:

Orly is indeed a major airport just like Charles de Gaulle and therefor doesn't count. Beauvais is the alternate airport for Paris.

A strange definition for alternate. I think here it works only as the North American version to alternative (alternative, other, another, second, different, possible, substitute, replacement, deputy, relief, proxy, surrogate, cover, fill-in, stand-in, standby, emergency, reserve, backup, auxiliary, fallback). Alternate can hardly be used here in the sense one airplane here one airplane there.

That would make ORY an alternate airport to CDG, but BVA really not, as not being an alternative for, for example bigger airplanes.

well, what you're saying seems to be an alternative airport in operational standpoint that if the main airport being unavailable then what could be used as alternative, but what I read from OP's message seems to be from airline scheduling point of view that what airport can an airline used to serve a city other than those that people usually connect with.

The OP used the word alternate, that translates to alternative. That means yes exactly that an airline can choose what airport to use.So why should it exclude main airports and include airports only ready for very limited operation, like for example only taking small frames. If the OP wanted to talk about something else he/she should use a different word or sentence to describe the thread.

ro1960 · Sat May 20, 2017 11:40 pm

Châlons Vatry (XCR) is marketed as Paris Vatry although located some 150km East of the capital so more suited to serve the Champagne region. It has a 3860m runway and almost doubled its pax figures between 2015 and 2016.

Oxford Kidlington (OXF) is marketed as London Oxford Airport, 95km from central London.

Channex757 · Sun May 21, 2017 12:25 am

LPL and MAN are close enough to be considered as alternates for each other. Airlines will serve one and not the other; in fact EZY started out at LPL before also adding MAN. Plenty of examples of flights which operate only to one of the two major North West England airports.

There are strong transport links between the two airports, and both have railway stations. Buses operate between the airports and their opposite city centre.

vhqpa · Sun May 21, 2017 12:44 am

OOL and MCY for BNE sort of.

They both primarily serve their own respective coasts. But all of Brisbane has at least one within an hour and bit driving time. OOL also has LCC medium haul to Asia (TZ/D7/JQ to Japan) that BNE doesn't have do for those kind flights it is an alternative for BNE.

flyinggoat · Sun May 21, 2017 1:20 am

This might be a stretch, but Friday Harbor, WA has commercial service to both an airport and seaplane base. Population is roughly 2500.

DeltaRules · Sun May 21, 2017 1:55 am

LCK as an alternate to CMH.

klm617 · Sun May 21, 2017 2:00 am

DTW, YQG,DET,YIP

klm617 · Sun May 21, 2017 2:03 am

Aliqiout wrote:
YYZ/YTZ
SEA/PAE
DFW/DAL
GLA/PIK
ORD/MDW

conaly · Sun May 21, 2017 3:09 am

BTS for VIE. 50km apart in different countries, but still some travel agencies actually promoted flights to Bratislava Airport as Vienna.

FlyBTV · Sun May 21, 2017 3:20 am

Theoretically PBG could be considered an alternate for BTV. It's in a different state and would require a ferry ride and close to an hour's drive to access, but only about 10 minutes away by jet, maybe less. No control tower but they do have airline service at PBG and an enormous runway, owing to its time as an Air Force base with a sizable B-52 contingent.

In my time living near BTV, I was never aware of an airline diversions to PBG (I do seem to recall at least one that diverted from PBG to BTV). Typically if the ceilings are too low to land at BTV, the plane will typically return to New York or another major city.

N415XJ · Sun May 21, 2017 3:26 am

klm617 wrote:
DTW, YQG,DET,YIP

DET hasn't had airline service in years, and YIP is only used for cargo and charters. Also, calling Windsor an airport that serves Detroit is a bit of a stretch- the amount of people from the Detroit area who even consider YQG when FNT, MBS, GRR, and TOL are so close must be minuscule. Has YQG ever been marketed as an alternative Detroit airport?

Airstud · Sun May 21, 2017 5:32 am

EAU as an alternate to MSP
SBN for either of the Chi-town airports

LightningZ71 · Sun May 21, 2017 5:39 am

BTR (Baton Rouge) has HDC about a half hour away in Hammond, LA... (long runway that is used by DHS for Dash 8 flights and small turbo props on the regular, was once a bomber training base) and KREG/L38 down I-10 (actually closer than HDC, but not as well serviced).
MSY has LAK (Lakefront Airport) along Lake Ponchartrain, which used to be the main airport for the city before Moisant Field was built and also has a small FIS area that caters to private traffic. HDC is only about ten more minutes away by car due to the traffic involved in crossing town. I suppose most of the regular traffic could land at KAPS (St. John the Baptist Parish Airport) if the REALLY had to, but I have to think that there would be plenty of other places they'd rather go first...
SHV has DTN as an in-town alternate (the runway should be long enough for most everything that SHV sees on a normal day)
AEX has 2L0 (Prarieville), but 3000ft is kinda tight for some of what AEX gets...

atimp · Sun May 21, 2017 5:55 am

When I worked at GEG we were the alternate for both SEA and PDX when they were fogged in.

ahj2000 · Sun May 21, 2017 6:56 am

Look at an Allegiant map for an almost complete list of US ones.
SFB for MCO
PIE for TPA
PGD for RSW
RFD for CHI
OGD and PVU for SLC
TOL for DTW
USA/JQF for CLT
SWF for NYC
LCK for CMH
IAG for BUF

Also,
PVD and MHT serve BOS.

seat55a · Sun May 21, 2017 7:09 am

TTN for PHL? Would probably have more traffic if fewer nimbys.

XAM2175 · Sun May 21, 2017 8:06 am

Eindhoven wrote:
I'm looking for cities that have smaller alternate airports next to their primary airports.
AVV as alternative to MEL

There is also MEB, which is pretty much actually next to Tullamarine and does have some scheduled service.

c933103 · Sun May 21, 2017 8:14 am

mjoelnir wrote:
c933103 wrote:
mjoelnir wrote:

A strange definition for alternate. I think here it works only as the North American version to alternative (alternative, other, another, second, different, possible, substitute, replacement, deputy, relief, proxy, surrogate, cover, fill-in, stand-in, standby, emergency, reserve, backup, auxiliary, fallback). Alternate can hardly be used here in the sense one airplane here one airplane there.

That would make ORY an alternate airport to CDG, but BVA really not, as not being an alternative for, for example bigger airplanes.

well, what you're saying seems to be an alternative airport in operational standpoint that if the main airport being unavailable then what could be used as alternative, but what I read from OP's message seems to be from airline scheduling point of view that what airport can an airline used to serve a city other than those that people usually connect with.

The OP used the word alternate, that translates to alternative. That means yes exactly that an airline can choose what airport to use.So why should it exclude main airports and include airports only ready for very limited operation, like for example only taking small frames. If the OP wanted to talk about something else he/she should use a different word or sentence to describe the thread.

OP have already stated this explicitly

klm617 · Sun May 21, 2017 1:06 pm

N415XJ wrote:
klm617 wrote:
DTW, YQG,DET,YIP

DET hasn't had airline service in years, and YIP is only used for cargo and charters. Also, calling Windsor an airport that serves Detroit is a bit of a stretch- the amount of people from the Detroit area who even consider YQG when FNT, MBS, GRR, and TOL are so close must be minuscule. Has YQG ever been marketed as an alternative Detroit airport?

You are correct but that being said FNT for DTW is a good example. I have used YQG a couple of times for international travel.

tysmith95 · Sun May 21, 2017 4:29 pm

OHR, MHT, and PVD for BOS.

Also BED has a good bit of private jet travel.

doulasc · Sun May 21, 2017 4:58 pm

When SkyBus Airlines was in service they flew to st. Augustine alternate airport to Jacksonville and Daytona Beach Punta Gorda Florida alternative to Fort Myers and Sarasota

thewizbizman · Fri May 26, 2017 5:31 pm

If it was not already mentioned,

Chicago Midway is an alternate to Chicago O' Hare (KORD)

11725Flyer · Sat May 27, 2017 10:12 pm

Gainesville (GNV) may be an alternative for those in the northern Orlando (MCO) area. Also, G4 flies into Sanford Orlando (SFB) instead of MCO. St. Petersburg/Clearwater (PIE) is extremely popular for Tampa Bay travelers flying on G4.

Coal · Sat May 27, 2017 10:48 pm

JHB as alternative to SIN, although you have to drive across the border to Malaysia to get there, but back before Air Asia and the other SE Asian LCCs were big, I actually took a flight from JHB to BKI to save about $500 on the airfare ex-SIN.

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