Aviation in the Philadelphia metropolitan area
The Philadelphia metropolitan area has one of the busiest airspaces in the Northeast. About 6.1 million people live there, and more than 40 million passengers travel through its airports each year.
The major airports are Philadelphia International Airport, Atlantic City International Airport, and Reading Regional Airport.
Philadelphia International began in 1925 for the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. During World War II it was used as a First Air Force training field. It became Philadelphia International in 1945 when American Overseas Airlines started flights to Europe. The airport grew into a major hub, and today American Airlines carries most of its traffic from PHL. In 2015, PHL handled about 31.4 million passengers, 411 thousand aircraft operations, and around 404 thousand tons of cargo.
Atlantic City International Airport started in 1942 as Naval Air Station Atlantic City and has served the area ever since. In 1943 its mission shifted to fighter training, including gunnery, carrier practice, bombing, and night operations. Since 1958 it has been home to the Atlantic City Air National Guard Base and the 177th Fighter Wing, flying F-16s, and it is also home to Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City.
Reading Regional Airport opened as a civil airport in 1938 and was used by the Army Air Forces for training during World War II. In the 1950s several major airlines stopped there, and by 2004 Reading no longer appeared in major airline schedules.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:10 (CET).