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Rafael Hernández Airport is a joint civil-military airport located in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. It is named after the Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández Marín and is the second international airport in Puerto Rico in the region of Porta del Sol, Puerto Rico's west coast. It is also home to Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen. Rafael Hernandez Airport mainly serves Puerto Rican westerners living in the Eastern Region of the United States. The airport previously served as a focus city for PAWA Dominicana. In the past, the airport has been served by major carriers like Capitol Air, Pan Am, Kiwi International Air Lines, TWA, American Airlines, Delta Connection, to mention a few. Taesa flew in 1996 from Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City.〔http://www.departedflights.com/MEXI96intro.html〕 Mostly due to little planning, research or advertising, some of these services have been suspended. Other services have been discontinued as part of the airlines restructuring plan, or as a result of airlines going out of business. ==History== Until 1974, the airport was an active military installation, Ramey Air Force Base, under the operational control of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). Following its closure, it was converted into a civilian airport. It used to receive domestic commercial flights by Prinair as well as service from JFK International Airport in New York City with Capitol Air,〔http://www.departedflights.com/CL120182.html〕 and 707 passenger flights from Miami with Southeast Airlines.〔http://www.crazedfanboy.com/npcr/laflapcr219.html〕 It is also noted for being the place that the large clothing company, Wrangler Jeans used to land their planes filled with company-related cargo. In 1988, Rafael Hernández Airport started to serve as an alternative to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, when Carnival Airlines and ATA began jet service. In the 1990s, American Airlines, later joined those two airlines, followed by Pan Am (2) and TWA. This was followed by Carnival Airlines, which provided Airbus A300 service to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey and Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.〔()〕 In the early 1990s, Carnival Airlines also operated the first intra-Puerto Rican jet service from the airport to Ponce with Boeing 727s and Airbus A300s. Another carrier, Prinair, also conducted operations at Rafael Hernández Airport, but later ceased operations following several accidents. In 2000, North American Airlines reopened passenger service with a non-stop flight to New York JFK three times a week. Later, Continental Airlines joined North American with a daily flight to their hub in Newark. Continental has since merged with United Airlines, and the latter airline has continued to provide service. The evident success of service from Aguadilla caught the attention of Boston-Maine Airways, which resulted in opening routes to Orlando-Sanford International Airport in Florida and to Santo Domingo. In 2004, the Puerto Rico Ports Authority announced that it would be remodeling and expanding BQN to accommodate more flights and passengers. An expansion of the terminal building and a new parking lot were among the projects in mind, with said expansion being inaugurated on July 12, 2005. In 2005, continuous passenger traffic growth also caught the attention of Jet Blue Airways, which opened a daily flight to their hub at New York JFK. Soon after the arrival of JetBlue, North American ceased operations. As a result, JetBlue announced that it would add a second daily flight to New York JFK. In 2006, Delta Connection began regional jet service to Atlanta, Georgia five times a week, although this service ended on January 20, 2007 as part of Delta's restructuring plan. Later in 2007, JetBlue Airways began service to Orlando International Airport in Florida. In the summer of 2007 Spirit Airlines announced plans to begin service from the airport to their hub in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with a flight five times a week during the summer. The success of the service resulted in Spirit continuing the service beyond the summer months, although service frequency was lowered to a flight two times a week. Since the closure of Ramey AFB in 1974, the airport's control tower had remained standing, but was non-operational, limiting the airport to UNICOM communication as an uncontrolled airport. Following refurbishment of the former USAF control tower in 2006 and 2007, the newly renovated control tower directed its first aircraft on July 5, 2007. During the low season of 2007 there were 59 flights per week, 1 daily flight to New York, 1 to Newark and Orlando and a flight 5 times per week to Ft. Lauderdale. Due to the success of service, Spirit Airlines has increased their frequency to daily to/from Ft. Lauderdale. In addition, Spirit added a daily non-stop service to Orlando in February 2008. JetBlue continued to have two daily flights to New York-JFK after the holiday season, adding a second daily flight to/from Orlando on May 1, 2008. On June 2, 2008, Pan Am World Airways Dominicana restored service between the airport and Santo Domingo-Las Americas as well as to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The capacity of the airport and its role as the main gateway to Porta del Sol has led local officials to take the position that the airport is extremely underserved in a region which accounts for one third of Puerto Rico's total population, with the mayor of Aguadilla asking for the airport to be transferred to the city on several occasions. In late January 2011, the airport hosted sea level tests for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. On February 20, 2012, it was announced by both the mayor of Aguadilla and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce that the airport will be designated a "free trade zone" (FTZ), as are many other airports in the U.S., a move that is believed will improve the development of the airport and surrounding areas. On April 10, 2014, it was announced by Lufthansa Technik the creation of a Maintenance Repairing Operations center (MRO) in the airport. This will create operations for maintenance of Lufthansa Aircraft flying on the Americas, starting with 2 reconditioning lines by C and D checks for the Airbus A320, with plans to expand up to 5 reconditioning lines.〔(Lufthansa Press Release, Apr 10, 2014 ) New overhaul site in Puerto Rico for short/medium-haul aircraft〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rafael Hernández Airport」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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