CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT IN 1990
Part five of our history of Chattanooga Airport features 30 photos from 1990, shortly before the construction and opening of the current terminal. All of these are from the amazing Picnooga collection and are used with their permission.
The ticketing lobby of the 1964 terminal showing the counters of American, Comair, Delta and USAir. The windows that can be seen at the far end of the building in earlier photos had been replaced by an addition that housed baggage claim and car rentals.
This is the ramp that led to the concourse which was off to the right in this perspective. Beyond the ramp is the corridor to baggage claim and car rentals.
The entrance to the concourse from the terminal.
Interior view of the concourse heading away from the main terminal.
Farther down the concourse, still facing away from the terminal.
Northwest Airlines occupied gate 1. Flight 799 to Memphis can be seen on the board.
Gate 3 was used by USAir which operated several daily flights to Charlotte.
At the end of the concourse, gate 7 housed Delta and Delta Connection carrier Comair.
American Airlines operated flights between Chattanooga and their Nashville hub.
The concourse as seen from the addition built in 1955.
Northwest Airlines DC-9-14 N8914E (msn 45831) prepares for another trip back to Memphis. This 1966-vintage aircraft had previously flown with Eastern, Southern Airways and Republic and had likely visited Chattanooga with each of those companies.
DC-9s of Northwest and Delta at the 1964 concourse.
Delta DC-9-32 N1288L (msn 47443) prepares for the 20 minute hop back to Atlanta. This plane joined the Delta fleet in 1970 and would later fly with ValuJet and Air Tran. These jetways were designed to attach to the second story of a building, so the airlines had to construct awkward ramps to integrate them with the one story concourse.
The end of the concourse with Delta's gate 7 to the left and the American Airlines gate to the right.
Gate 8 at the end of the concourse. The main terminal would be off to the far right.
This photo shows American's jetway and an Eastern Metro Express Jetstream parked just beyond that. The baggage claim addition to the terminal is to the right.
View facing south from the airside of the baggage claim area.
The front of the 26 year old terminal looking a little worse for wear but essentially unchanged from the day it opened.
1990 curbside view.
Curbside check-in at CHA in 1990. The baggage claim addition can be seen in the background.
Around the corner from the right side of the main lobby, a section of the 1930s terminal was still visible below the old control tower. Straight ahead, the green doors of Chattanooga's first hangar can be seen.
Lovell Field's first hangar, constructed in 1930, shortly before it was demolished in 1991.
The oldest sections of the terminal dating from the 1930s and 1940s were hidden from public view and left to deteriorate during the late 1980s. To the left you can see one of the brick walls built in 1964 to block the view of the stucco buildings in order to give the terminal a unified, modern look from the parking lot and street.
This addition was added in 1964 and stood directly in front of the original 1930 terminal.
Interior view of the dilapidated 1930s terminal in 1990 with a water damaged drop ceiling blocking the original staircase.
I believe this was the corridor that connected the 1930 terminal to the 1964 terminal addition.
Back inside the main lobby, the former Skyline Restaurant can be seen to the right.
The entrance to what was once the Skyline Restaurant Coffee Shop and Dining Room.
This is the addition to the end of the main lobby that housed the car rental companies and led to baggage claim.
And, finally, the baggage claim area.
