Bishop “International” Airport?

Why does Bishop Airport find it necessary to refer to itself an international airport? The farthest you can fly is Las Vegas, Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers (in season) all located in the foreign countries of Nevada, Georgia and Florida.

To my knowledge there has not been an international flight in over 30 years. Even then, I believe it was from Mexico. MBS (Midland, Bay City, Saginaw) International Airport, formerly Tri City Airport, is another case of misinformation.

After researching the subject, answers suddenly appeared. By definition, an international airport is a facility equipped with customs and immigration services able to handle international flights.

Some airports, especially in smaller United States cities, such as Flint, in fact have no scheduled international airline passenger service but do have customs and immigration capabilities, which are only available with several hours advance notice. Another example is the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.

A few, such as Gary/Chicago International Airport in Indiana, are in fact not international airports at all. Instead, they aspire to become such in the future and have added the “international” status as a marketing tool.

Finally, other airports, which previously served international flights and now only provide domestic options, retained the “international” designation in their name.

Now you will have to fly to Detroit Metro or Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to arrive anywhere close to an international destination.

Someone in the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) should have to explain why an airport, the size of Bishop, needs 10 agents on duty for four flights. I am positive that in Atlanta or Detroit, they need 20 times as many. I witnessed a man drinking a large soda, from a McDonald’s cup, told he was not able to bypass the first security checkpoint. The result was a large gulp, followed by an even larger belch.

Just proves our taxes are being used to the maximum effectiveness.