20th century Starting in 1925, the
Pennsylvania National Guard used the present airport site (known as
Hog Island) as a training airfield. The site was dedicated as the "Philadelphia Municipal Airport" by
Charles Lindbergh in 1927, but it had no proper terminal building until 1940; airlines used
Camden Central Airport in nearby
Pennsauken Township, New Jersey. Once Philadelphia's terminal was completed (on the east side of the field)
American,
Eastern,
TWA, and
United moved their operations here. In 1947 and 1950, the airport had runways 4, 9, 12 and 17, all or less. In 1956 runway 9 was ; in 1959 it was and runway 12 was closed. Not much changed until the early 1970s, when runway 4 was closed and 9R opened with . On June 20, 1940, the airport's
weather station became the official point for Philadelphia weather observations and records by the
National Weather Service. During
World War II the
United States Army Air Forces used the airport as a
First Air Force training airfield. Beginning in 1940, Rising Sun School of Aeronautics of
Coatesville performed primary flight training at the airport under contract to the Air Corps. After the
Pearl Harbor Attack, the
I Fighter Command Philadelphia Fighter Wing provided air defense of the
Delaware Valley area from the airport. Throughout the war, various fighter and bomber groups were organized and trained at Philadelphia airport and assigned to the Philadelphia Fighter Wing before being sent to advanced training airfields or being deployed overseas. Known units assigned were the
33d,
58th,
355th and
358th Fighter Groups. In June 1943, I Fighter Command transferred jurisdiction of the airport to the
Air Technical Service Command (ATSC). ATSC established a sub-depot of the
Middletown Air Depot at the airport. The 855th Army Air Forces Specialized Depot unit repaired and overhauled aircraft and returned them to active service, and the
Army Air Forces Training Command established the Philco Training School on January 1, 1943, which trained personnel in radio repair and operations. In 1945, the Air Force reduced its use of the airport and it was returned to civil control that September. Philadelphia Municipal became Philadelphia International Airport in 1945, when
American Overseas Airlines began direct flights to Europe. A new terminal opened in December 1953; the oldest parts of the present terminal complex (B and C) were built in the late 1950s. As of April 1957, the airport was providing 30 weekday departures on Eastern, 24 on TWA, 24 on United, 18 on American, 16 on National, 14 on Capital, six on Allegheny, and three on Delta. To Europe, five Pan Am DC-6Bs a week via Idlewild and Boston and two TWA
749As a week via Idlewild; one TWA flight continued to Ceylon. Eastern and National had nonstops to Miami, but the TWA
1049G to LAX that started in 1956 was the only nonstop beyond Chicago. The first scheduled jets were TWA 707s in the summer of 1959. Terminal B/C modernization was completed in 1970, Terminal D opened in 1973 and Terminal E in 1977; the $300 million expansion was designed by Arnold Thompson Associates, Inc. and
Vincent G. Kling & Associates. In the 1980s, the airport hosted several hubs. The
Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 allowed regional carrier
Altair Airlines to create a small hub at PHL using
Fokker F-28s. Altair began in 1967 with flights to cities such as
Rochester, New York,
Hartford, Connecticut and to Florida until it ceased operations in November 1982. In the mid-1980s
Eastern Air Lines opened a hub in Concourse C. The airline declined in the late 1980s and sold aircraft and gate leases to Chicago-based
Midway Airlines. Midway operated its Philadelphia hub until it ceased operation in 1991. During the 1980s
US Airways (then called USAir) built a hub at PHL.
US Airways became the dominant carrier at the airport in the 1980s and 1990s and shifted most of its hub operations from
Pittsburgh to Philadelphia in 2003. As of 2013, the airport was US Airways' largest international hub and its second-largest hub overall behind
Charlotte. PHL became an
American Airlines hub after it completed its merger with US Airways in 2015 and remains one of the airline's biggest hubs, offering an average of 420 departing flights per day to over 100 destinations. In recent years, American has opted to continue expanding at PHL while downsizing its hub at JFK in New York due to greater slot availability, lower operation costs in Philadelphia, and its greater network of connecting flights. In July 1999, the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and several U.S. federal government agencies selected a route for the connecting ramps from
Interstate 95 to the Terminal A-West complex, then under development; the agency tried to avoid the
John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. K/B Fund II, the owner of the
International Plaza complex, formerly the
Scott Paper headquarters Scott Plaza, objected to the proposed routing, saying it would interfere with International Plaza development. It entered a filing in the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to challenge the proposed routing.
21st century In 2000, the airport attempted to acquire the complex for $90 million but
Tinicum Township commissioners stopped the deal from going forward, citing concerns of a loss of tax revenue for the township and the
Interboro School District, which serves Tinicum and
noise pollution concerns. In 2002 construction on the controversial new entrance ramps went forward. The new ramps eliminated the traffic signal and stop intersections previously encountered by northbound I-95 motorists who had to use
Route 291 to the airport. The project consisted of six new bridges, more than 4,300 linear feet of retaining walls, and 7.7 lane miles of new pavement. The project also included new highway lighting, overhead sign structures, landscaping and the paving of Bartram Avenue. Also under the project, PennDOT resurfaced I-95 between
Route 420 and Island Avenue and built a truck enforcement and
park-and-ride facility. In 2003 Terminal A-West opened, with a 1,500-space parking garage. Construction of the terminal was funded by airport revenue bonds sold by the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development. By 2005 two studies dealt with expanding runway capacity at PHL: the Runway 17–35 Extension Project EIS and the PHL Capacity Enhancement Program EIS. Completed in May 2009, the Runway 17-35 Extension Project extended runway 17–35 to a length of , extending it at both ends and incorporating the proper
runway safety areas. Other changes made with the Runway 17–35 Extension Project included additional
taxiways and
aprons, relocation of perimeter service roads, and modifications to nearby public roads. The status of Philadelphia as an international gateway and major hub for American Airlines and the growth of Southwest Airlines and other low-cost carriers have increased passenger traffic to record levels in the mid-2000s; in 2004 28,507,420 passengers flew through Philadelphia, up 15.5% over 2003. In 2005, 31,502,855 passengers flew through PHL, marking a 10% increase since 2004. In 2006, 31,768,272 passengers travelled through PHL, a 0.9% increase. US Airways commenced a nonstop flight to Tel Aviv in July 2009. It operated an Airbus A330 on the route. In 2011, a nearly 85,000-square-foot mural was completed along the sides of the airport parking garages that face I-95. The design includes images taken from photographs of Philadelphians dancing by local photographer JJ Tiziou. More than 800 people painted the mural over four months. On November 14, 2019, after a five-year project, extended Runway 27L was dedicated and opened for operations. The runway was extended 1,500 feet to 12,000 feet with several new taxiways to accommodate the newest fleet of large aircraft that are popular on many long-haul flights. Runway 9R/27L, at 12,000 feet is the longest civil runway in all of Pennsylvania. In 2023, the airport began a $15 million multi-year project to renovate and expand the airport's restroom facilities, funded by a FAA Airport Terminal Program grant included in the federal
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into law by President
Joe Biden. The project will construct two new restrooms, five lactation suites, four service animal relief areas, 49 gender neutral restrooms, three adult assisted care restrooms, and upgrade 30 existing restrooms to be compliant with the
Americans with Disabilities Act. In 2024, the airport received $20.4 million in federal funds allocated from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to perform HVAC and electrical system repairs at several terminals, baggage claims and ticket areas, and pedestrian bridges. ==Facilities==