Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport

{{Redirect|PAGA|the town in Ghana|Paga}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox airport | name = Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport | nativename = {{small|(former Galena Air Force Base)}} | image = GAL-i.jpg | image-width = 250 | IATA = GAL | ICAO = PAGA | FAA = GAL | type = Public | owner = State of Alaska DOT&PF – Northern Region | operator = | city-served = Galena, Alaska | location =  | elevation-f = 154 | website = | coordinates = {{coord|64|44|10|N|156|56|15|W|region:US-AK|display=inline,title}} | pushpin_map = USA Alaska | pushpin_relief = | pushpin_map_caption = Location of airport in Alaska | pushpin_label = '''GAL''' | r1-number = 8/26 | r1-length-f = 6,000 | r1-surface = Asphalt/Concrete | r2-number = 6/24 | r2-length-f = 2,600 | r2-surface = Gravel Ski Strip | stat-year = 2022 | stat1-header = Aircraft operations | stat1-data = 19,000 | stat2-header = Based aircraft | stat2-data = 0 | footnotes = Source: Federal Aviation Administration<ref name="FAA">{{FAA-airport|ID=GAL|use=PU|own=PU|site=50258.*A}}. Federal Aviation Administration. effective May 31, 2012.</ref> }} [[File:317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-70-CO Delta Dagger 56-1257.jpg|thumb|Galena Airport was used by the USAF 317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Elmendorf AFB as a forward-deployed Base to intercept Soviet aircraft intruding on United States airspace over the Bering Sea. Depicted: Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, 1965.]] '''Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport''' {{airport codes|GAL|PAGA|GAL}} is a state-owned public-use airport located in Galena, a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska.<ref name="FAA" />

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 7,784 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,<ref> {{cite web | url = http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/cy08_all_enplanements.pdf | title = Enplanements for CY 2008 | format = PDF, 1.0 MB | work = CY 2008 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data | publisher = Federal Aviation Administration | date = December 18, 2009 }} </ref> 7,447 enplanements in 2009, and 12,421 in 2010.<ref> {{cite web | url = http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/cy10_all_enplanements.pdf | title = Enplanements for CY 2010 | format = PDF, 189 KB | work = CY 2010 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data | publisher = Federal Aviation Administration | date = October 4, 2011 }} </ref> It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''non-primary commercial service'' airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year) based on enplanements in 2008;<ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/npias/reports/media/2011/npias_2011_appA.pdf |title=2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A |format=PDF, 2.03 MB |work=National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems |publisher=Federal Aviation Administration |date=October 4, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927084535/http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/npias/reports/media/2011/npias_2011_appA.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2012 }} </ref> however, it qualifies as a ''primary commercial service'' airport based on enplanements in 2010.

==History== {{expand section|1=who is "Edward G. Pitka Sr." and why is the airport named after him?|date=September 2012|small=no}} As '''Galena Airport''', it was used as a military transport base during World War II, facilitating the transit of lend-lease aircraft to the Soviet Union.

As Galena Air Force Station, it was used by the USAF during the Cold War as an interceptor base for aircraft patrolling the western areas of Alaska. It was downsized in 1993, but the military airfield is maintained by a private contractor as a weather/emergency diversion airfield since Regular Air Force fighter-interceptor alert operations ended.<ref>{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}</ref> It is now known as Galena Forward Operating Location.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}

==Facilities and aircraft== Edward G. Pitka Sr Airport covers an area of 1,250 acres (506 ha) at an elevation of 154 feet (47 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways: 8/26 is 6,000 by 100 feet (1,829 x 30 m) with an asphalt and concrete surface; 6/24 is 2,600 by 50 feet (792 x 15 m) with a gravel ski strip surface.<ref name="FAA" />

The airport also sports a ski-jump takeoff ramp at one end and provisions for arresting gear (see picture, ski jump at 07 end) at the other, a leftover from the Cold War years as Galena Air Force Base, as tactical aircraft required more landing and takeoff space than was available on the runway.

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 19,000 aircraft operations, an average of 52 per day: 68% general aviation, 16% scheduled commercial, 11% military, and 5% air taxi. At that time there was no aircraft based at the airport.<ref name="FAA" />

==Airlines and destinations== ===Passenger===  {{Airport destination list | Everts Air | Fairbanks<ref>{{cite web |title=Passenger Schedules |url=https://evertsair.com/passenger/schedules |access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref> | Wright Air Service | Fairbanks, Huslia, Kaltag, Koyukuk, Nulato, Ruby<ref>{{cite web | url = http://info.flightmapper.net/airline/WRT/GAL | title = Wright Destinations | access-date = Sep 16, 2022}}</ref> }}

===Top destinations=== {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" |+ '''Busiest domestic routes out of GAL'''<br />(July 2023 – June 2024)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=GAL&Airport_Name=Galena,%20AK:%20Galena%20Airport&carrier=FACTS | title=BTS | Transtats }}</ref> ! Rank ! City ! Passengers ! Carriers |- | 1 | Fairbanks, AK | 7,180 | Everts, Wright |- | 2 | Nulato, AK | 1,690 | Wright |- | 3 | Huslia, AK | 1,110 | Wright |- | 4 | Kaltag, AK | 1,010 | Wright |- | 5 | Koyukuk, AK | 460 | Wright |- | 6 | Ruby, AK | 280 | Wright |}

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * [http://msrmaps.com/map.aspx?t=2&s=13&lat=64.7362&lon=-156.9374&w=600&h=600&lp=---+None+--- Topographic map] from USGS ''The National Map'' * [https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/08/us/air-forces-s-alaska-pilots-await-call-intercept-soviet-craft-galena-air-force.html AIR FORCES'S ALASKA PILOTS AWAIT CALL TO INTERCEPT SOVIET CRAFT GALENA AIR FORCE STATION, Alaska] * [https://dec.alaska.gov/spar/csp/sites/galena.htm Galena Air Force Station] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150503171810/http://www.afcec.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=20741 FORMER GALENA FORWARD OPERATING LOCATION] * {{FAA-diagram|01229|Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport (GAL)}} * {{FAA-procedures|GAL|Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport (GAL)}} {{US-airport2|GAL|PAGA}}

Category:Airports in the Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska