History of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

FILE The new terminal at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport terminal opened in 1949.

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1942: The Seattle Port Commission votes to assume responsibility for the new airport, coming up with two possible sites: west of Lake Sammamish or a site west of Bow Lake and Highway 99, which was selected. Ground is broken Jan. 2, 1943.

1944: Paving of the runway is completed. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is dedicated Oct. 31, 1944. It cost $4.2 million, almost all federal money. United Airlines makes the first official landing.

1946: Voters approve a $3 million bond issue to build a modern terminal.

1947: Northwest Airlines begins operations at Sea-Tac. The first crash occurs at Sea-Tac when a plane overshoots the runway. No one is hurt.

1949: The new terminal opens.

1950: The main north-south runway is extended from 6,100 to 7,500 feet.

1951: Alaska Airlines begins operations.

1954: Sea-Tac's annual passenger count reaches 1 million.

1955: Runway is extended to 8,500 feet.

1958: Runway is extended to 10,200 feet.
 
1959: The north concourse of the Administration Building is finished. Japan Airlines is the first overseas airline to operate in Seattle.

1961: The south concourse of the Administration Building is completed.

1968: Construction begins on 9,450-foot second runway, parallel to the first.

1970: Second runway is completed. The airport freeway road is linked to Interstate 5.

1973: The new main terminal and satellite terminals are dedicated.

1978: The airline industry is deregulated. By 1984, 26 major carriers serve Seattle, more than double the 12 before deregulation.

1985: Airport planners say 20-year air-traffic projections indicate a third runway is not necessary.

1988: Due mainly to the arrival of Horizon Air, annual traffic surpasses that projected for 2005. Airport planners say a third runway is needed.

1993: The Puget Sound Regional Council directs the Port of Seattle to move forward on planning studies for a third runway.

1996: Port Commission approves development of an 8,500-foot runway. First lawsuits against project filed.

1997: Port budgets $587 million for project.

1999: Runway cost estimate grows to $773 million.

2001: Pollution Control Hearings Board puts a hold on the state permit to fill 18 acres of wetlands at the center of the dispute over the runway.

2002: Port wins a key permit for the third runway from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, allowing the Port to fill wetlands. Pollution-control board grants a water-quality permit for the runway but imposes 16 conditions for construction.

2003: Development delays push the third-runway price tag to more than $1 billion.

2003: Federal judge upholds wetland-construction permit, dismissing a suit filed by runway opponents.

2004: Washington State Supreme Court settles one of the last major legal challenges to the third runway, clearing the way to start major construction on the $1.13 billion project this summer.

2004: Port officials say the runway could open in 2008, 20 years after airport officials raised the idea.