Wainwright Airport
Wainwright Airport
Wainwright Airport (IATA: AIN, ICAO: PAWI, FAA LID: AWI, formerly 5WW) is a public use airport located in Wainwright, a city in the North Slope Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. The airport is owned by the North Slope Borough. As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 3,547 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 3,770 enplanements in 2009, and 4,129 in 2010. 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). Although many U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, this airport is assigned AWI by the FAA and AIN by the IATA. The airport's ICAO identifier is PAWI.
Location
70.638°N, 159.995°O · 12 m s. n. m. (41 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 3 Official publication
Approach
Common traffic (CTAF)
Automated weather
Frequencies from the official publication: FAA NASR, AIRAC 01 OCT 2026, checked on Oct 16, 2026. They change with each amendment: not for navigation without checking the current AIP. See the official publication In MHz.
History
The airport was built in 1957 to support the Distant Early Warning Line Radar station at Wainwright (LIZ-3). The station was logistically supported by the 711th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, which was based at Cape Lisburne Air Force Station, although civilian contract workers operated Point Lay.
The radar station was upgraded in the late 1980s with new radars and in 1989 was re-designated part of the North Warning System (NWS) as a Long Range Radar Site, A-16.
The LRR site was inactivated in 2007 due to soil erosion and budget concerns. The airport remains open to support the small settlement under the control of the Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center based at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson.
Airlines operating here · 1
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Federal Aviation Administration, Alaskan Region · Public domain · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 16, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 16). Wainwright Airport (AIN). Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AIN
MLA
“Wainwright Airport (AIN).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 16 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AIN. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Wainwright Airport (AIN).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 16, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AIN.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Wainwright Airport (AIN). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AIN (Accessed: 23 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_ain,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Wainwright Airport (AIN)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-16},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AIN},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AIN}},
urldate = {2026-10-23},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-23}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/AIN |title=Wainwright Airport (AIN) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-16 |access-date=2026-10-23 |language=en}}