Fly2High has recently released their rendition of Bellingham International Airport (KBLI) for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the third largest commercial airport in Washington with a yearly average of 316,693 passengers as of 2022.

The airport’s history dates back to October 1936, when the construction work began under the supervision of the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which had previously funded the purchase of the airport’s 200 acres of land from Charles F. Larrabee. Initially, there were plans for three runways, but only one was built, with 1,100 meters of length and 46 meters of width. 

The US Army Corps of Engineers took over the entire project in 1940, expanding the airport to three full runways and building a basic infrastructure to operate as an airport. It was opened to the public a year later and then seized by the US Army not long after, following the Pearl Harbor attacks. 

During World War 2, Bellingham International was utilized by the Fourth Air Force to provide an aerial defense to the Pacific Coast and later on for ferrying aircraft to Alaska for its subsequent transfer to the Soviet Union.

Post-war, the facility was closed and handed back to Whatcom County, slowly redeveloped as a civilian airport with a terminal designed by F. Stanley Piper. High costs led Whatcom County to sell it to the Port of Bellingham in 1957 for 1 dollar. The new owners were not fond of the high expenses either, only resurfacing one of the runways (16/34), which is still the sole runway in operation.

In 2010, the runway was resurfaced to accommodate Allegiant Air’s Boeing 757s on their nonstop service to Hawaii. 

The terminal saw upgrades in 1980 with a two-phase project and a 38 million-dollar expansion in the early 2010s, increasing the number of gates and the general terminal area from 27,500 square feet to 104,000 square feet. 

Bellingham is served by four airlines: Alaska Airlines (Seattle-Tacoma), Allegiant Air (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Palm Springs, Phoenix/Mesa, San Diego), San Juan Airlines (Eastsound, Friday Harbor, Lopez, Point Roberts), and Southwest Airlines (Las Vegas, Oakland).

The scenery features an accurate rendition of BLI, with an updated ground layout, custom ground markings, a terminal interior, and more.

It’s available on FlightSim.to for roughly $10.99, requiring at least 470.91 MB of free hard disk space to install.

Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!

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