Forbes Field (airport)

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For other uses, see Forbes Field (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 38°57′03″N 095°39′49″W / 38.95083, -95.66361

Forbes Field

IATA: FOE – ICAO: KFOE – FAA: FOE
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority
Serves Topeka, Kansas
Elevation AMSL 1,078 ft / 329 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
13/31 12,802 3,902 Concrete
3/21 7,000 2,134 Concrete
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 44,152
Based aircraft 57
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Forbes Field (IATA: FOE, ICAO: KFOE, FAA LID: FOE) is a joint civil-military public airport located six miles (10 km) south of the central business district of Topeka, a city in Shawnee County, Kansas, United States. It is owned by the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority.[1]

The airport is on the former site of the Topeka Army Airfield, later known as Forbes Air Force Base, a former Strategic Air Command (SAC) facility which closed in 1973. Most of the former base administrative area is now used for offices and an industrial park. The 190th Air Refueling Wing (190 ARW) of the Kansas Air National Guard also uses a portion of the airport as an Air Force cantonment area and Air National Guard installation in support of KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft operations.

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 17,924 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2006, up from 7,530 enplanements in 2005.[2] The airport has no scheduled commercial airline service at this time. Allegiant Air offered scheduled flights to Las Vegas[3], but discontinued service here on July 30, 2007.[4]

Contents

[edit] History

In April of 1976, with the exception of those portions retained by the Air National Guard, most of the former Forbes Air Force Base was turned over to the city of Topeka and Shawnee County. During this transition, all commercial air service was moved from the Phillip Billard Airport to the newly established Forbes Field. On June 1st, 1976, Frontier Airlines provided the first jet service out of Forbes Field. In 1981, a bond to build a new air terminal was rejected, but then approved a year later in 1982. The new $5 million terminal was completed in 1985. The terminal includes 5 airline ticket counters, the only current counter used is by Allegiant Air, 2 rental car counter, Hertz and Avis (seen outside in the parking lot with spaces provided for rental cars at one time), and one baggage claim carousel. Topeka has had several carriers throughout the mid-1970s to late-1980s, including Frontier, United, Midway and TWA. During this period, Forbes Field handled up to 180,000 passengers per year. After the major carriers pulled out, commuter flights were offered out of Forbes Field. As recently as November 2003, commuter service was provided by Air Midwest, codeshared with US Airways Express, on 19-passenger planes between Topeka and Kansas City International Airport.[5][6][7]

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Forbes Field covers an area of 2,854 acres (1,155 ha) which contains two concrete paved runways: 13/31 measuring 12,802 x 200 ft. (3,902 x 61 m) and 3/21 measuring 7,000 x 150 ft. (2,134 x 46 m). For the 12-month period ending October 31, 2007, the airport had 44,152 aircraft operations, an average of 120 per day: 58% military, 38% general aviation and 4% scheduled commercial.[1]


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c FAA Airport Master Record for FOE (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  2. ^ FAA Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data: 2006
  3. ^ Allegiant Air: Las Vegas Schedule. Retrieved 2006-05-05.
  4. ^ "Allegiant Air to end Topeka service", The Capital-Journal (Topeka), 2007-06-01. 
  5. ^ Anderson, Phil Vegas Bound. The Topeka Capital Journal. Retrieved 2006-05-05.
  6. ^ Schofield, Adrian Topeka Targets More Growth As Commercial Flights Return. Aviation Now. Retrieved 2006-05-05.
  7. ^ Forbes Field (ANG). GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2006-05-14.

[edit] External links

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