United States · elevation 439 ft AMSL
· 64.8151, -147.8560
Fairbanks International Airport is an airport with the ICAO code PAFA and the IATA code FAI. Country: United States. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Fairbanks. OurAirports classifies it as a medium-sized airport. Its ICAO code starts with the PA prefix, which marks airports in United States. The four-letter code PAFA is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code FAI is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 64°48'54"N, 147°51'22"W, at an elevation of 439 ft (134 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is America/Anchorage.
Aerial imagery showing the runway and apron layout - the zoom is matched to the longest runway.
| Threshold | Course | Length | Width | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | 20° | 884 m (2,900 ft) | 23 m (75 ft) | unpaved |
| 20 | 200° | |||
| 02L | 20° | 3,597 m (11,800 ft) | 46 m (150 ft) | asphalt |
| 20R | 200° | |||
| 02R | 20° | 1,375 m (4,510 ft) | 23 m (75 ft) | asphalt |
| 20L | 200° | |||
| 02W | 20° | 1,646 m (5,400 ft) | 30 m (100 ft) | water |
| 20W | 200° |
The course is derived from the runway designator (number × 10), not from a survey - the actual magnetic bearing can differ by a few degrees.
Declared distances (TORA, TODA, ASDA, LDA) are published in the national AIP - they are not part of this table.
What the METAR reports from PAFA for 2023-2025 show - counted hour by hour.
We computed these statistics from 26,256 METAR reports issued by PAFA in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 82% of the time, MVFR 11% and IFR or LIFR 7%. Best month for VFR flying: May (96% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: October (13%).
Through the day, IFR or LIFR conditions are most frequent around 19:00 UTC (10% of reports at that hour) and least frequent around 04:00 UTC (4%).
Fog (FG) was reported on 17 days a year on average, most often in September. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 4.3 days a year on average, and snowfall on 103.
The wind most often blows from NNE (23°) - 9% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 36% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in <1%. Warmest month: July (average high 23.5 °C); coldest: December (average low -26.4 °C).
Day counts are for the selected period (for all years - the yearly average).
The top of each bar is the average daily high, the bottom the average daily low (usually around dawn), in °C.
Most often: NNE - 9% of reports. Each petal shows the direction the wind blows from (as in METAR) - the longer it is, the more often. Colour shows wind speed.
| Month | Avg high °C | Avg low °C | VFR | IFR/LIFR | Fog days | Thunderstorm days | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | -13.9 | -22.8 | 80% | 9% | 1.7 | 0 | 14 |
| February | -10.8 | -21.3 | 78% | 13% | 2.7 | 0 | 14 |
| March | -2.7 | -15.6 | 90% | 2% | 0.3 | 0 | 10 |
| April | 5.7 | -5.2 | 89% | 4% | 0.3 | 0 | 13 |
| May | 16.4 | 4.5 | 96% | 1% | 0 | 0.7 | 1 |
| June | 22.7 | 11.1 | 92% | 3% | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0 |
| July | 23.5 | 13.3 | 88% | 3% | 0.7 | 1 | 0 |
| August | 19.6 | 10.6 | 82% | 6% | 0.7 | 1 | 0 |
| September | 12.6 | 4.6 | 73% | 9% | 3 | 0 | 2.3 |
| October | 2.5 | -4.2 | 69% | 13% | 2.7 | 0 | 16 |
| November | -8.5 | -15.8 | 75% | 11% | 1.7 | 0 | 17 |
| December | -17.9 | -26.4 | 75% | 11% | 2.3 | 0 | 17 |
Temperatures are averages of daily highs and lows. Day counts are the average per month over the period.
According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Fairbanks International Airport has 4 runways: 02/20 - 884 m long (2,900 ft), 23 m wide, unpaved surface; 02L/20R - 3,597 m long (11,800 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface; 02R/20L - 1,375 m long (4,510 ft), 23 m wide, asphalt surface; 02W/20W - 1,646 m long (5,400 ft), 30 m wide, water surface.
The longest of them is 02L/20R, at 3,597 m.
The thresholds are oriented as follows: 02/20 on 20° and 200° magnetic, 02L/20R on 20° and 200° magnetic, 02R/20L on 20° and 200° magnetic, 02W/20W on 20° and 200° magnetic. A threshold designator is its magnetic heading divided by ten (ICAO Annex 14), so the runway axis can be read straight off the numbers.
For the 02/20 axis, wind from the east (around 110°) or from the west (around 290°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 20° or 200° acts along the runway, as a headwind or a tailwind. The decoder on this page computes those components automatically from the current METAR.
Weather reports for Fairbanks International Airport are published under the ICAO code PAFA. A METAR is an observation of current conditions, usually issued every 30 or 60 minutes; a TAF is a forecast for the airport area, typically covering 9 to 30 hours.
The decoder breaks the PAFA report down into its parts: wind direction and speed including gusts and variability, visibility (including CAVOK and directional minimum visibility), weather phenomena by WMO code, cloud layers with their bases, temperature and dew point, QNH pressure, and the resulting flight category - VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR - using FAA thresholds.
Not every airport issues its own reports; many smaller airfields have no weather station. If no current data is available for PAFA, check the nearby airports listed below.
Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The America/Anchorage zone is GMT-09:00 in winter and GMT-08:00 in summer - that is the shift to apply to the time in the report to get local time at the airport.
The closest airports in the database, measured in a straight line from the reference point, are Ladd Army Airfield (Fairbanks) (PAFB, 12 km), Eielson Air Force Base (Fairbanks) (PAEI, 39 km), Nenana Municipal Airport (PANN, 65 km). When no report is available for PAFA, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.
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Check VFR MapThe METAR archive for PAFA goes back to 01/01/1923. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.
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