Atlantic City International Airport Since 1942

Atlantic City International Airport was originally established in 1942 as a Naval Air Station on 4,312 acres leased from Atlantic City. In 1958, the lease was transferred to what is now the Federal Aviation Administration. The property was sold to the federal government for $55,000 to provide a site for aviation test facilities but with a reverter clause, giving the city the right to buy the acreage back for the same price should the federal government cease to use it.

The city retained 84 acres, where the civil aviation terminal and related support facilities now stand. Scheduled airline service, however, was suspended from 1971 to 1978, during which time the FAA Tech Center’s engineering and developmental division occupied the terminal. Service by USAir, the former Allegheny Airlines, began October 29, 1978, in part of the terminal.

The South Jersey Transportation Authority was created in 1991 by -- and operates as an instrumentality of the State of New Jersey pursuant to -- the South Jersey Transportation Act (Chapter 252 of the Laws of New Jersey of 1991, as amended and supplemented). The SJTA is the successor to the New Jersey Expressway Authority and the Atlantic County Transportation Authority. On September 24, 1992, under terms of the Act, the SJTA acquired the Civil Terminal Area from the City of Atlantic City consisting of approximately 84 acres in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.

The Airport is operated by AvPORTS, as successor to American Port Services under a Use and Occupancy Agreement with the SJTA. This agreement expires on March 31, 2006.

The Civil Terminal Building was constructed in the early 1960's with a ticketing/ waiting area added in 1989 and a second-floor expansion completed in May of 1996.  In June 2004, a 300-seat holding room and new administrative offices were completed. Significant new upgrades are planned for the terminal.

The SJTA also acquired the City of Atlantic City's reversionary interest in approximately 4,312 acres of the Airport which the City had sold to the U.S. government and which the FAA administers. The reversionary interest means that ownership of the property may revert to the SJTA if the FAA determines that it has no use of the airport for government purposes. Upon such reversion, the SJTA must agree to operate the Airport as a public airport for the useful life of the Airport facilities.

On April 15, 1998, the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center (FAATC) transferred operational control of the airport to the SJTA.  At the same time, the FAATC also entered into a fifty-year lease with the SJTA for approximately 2,200 acres -- including all runways, taxiways and commercial aircraft aprons as well as development and environmental mitigation areas.