| Kirksville Regional Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: IRK – ICAO: KIRK – FAA LID: IRK | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | City of Kirksville | ||
| Serves | Kirksville, Missouri | ||
| Location | Pettis Township, Adair County, near Millard, Missouri | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 966 ft / 294 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 18/36 | 6,005 | 1,830 | Concrete |
| 9/27 | 1,393 | 425 | Turf |
| Statistics (2008) | |||
| Aircraft operations | 6,650 | ||
| Based aircraft | 41 | ||
| Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] | |||
Kirksville Regional Airport (IATA: IRK, ICAO: KIRK, FAA LID: IRK) is a public airport located 6 nautical miles (11 km) southeast of the central business district of Kirksville, a city in Adair County, Missouri, United States. The airport is located in unincorporated Adair County and is owned by the City of Kirksville.[1] It is mostly used for general aviation, but is also served by one commercial airline. Service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
Air Choice One began scheduled flight operations twice daily, to and from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport during July 2009. Scheduled operations are currently subsidized by the Essential Air Service Act. Previously service was operated by Air Midwest (operating as US Airways Express) to Kansas City International Airport[2] and by RegionsAir (operating as American Connection) with flights to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
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Aviation in the Kirksville area began in the Kirksville area within a few years of the Wright brothers historic flight. Local resident Nick Sparling is credited as being Adair County's first aviator, in 1909. In 1924, Roy B. "Cap" Dodson started the first airport in the area, located on the north edge of Kirksville. However, an airfield at the present location of Kirksville Regional Airport wasn't created until 1930 when the Federal Aviation Administration built a series of emergency landing strips across the nation. With America's entry into World War Two the Kirksville Municipal Airport, as it had been declared in the late 1930s, received a major upgrade from the Civilian Pilots Training Program and the US Army Air Corps War Training Service. In 1942 a paved all-weather landing strip, hangars, a control tower and small restaurant were constructed. A post-war boom in commercial aviation finally reached Kirksville in 1961 when Ozark Airlines began regular air service. The plane must have been a familiar sight to many area World War Two veterans, as Ozark used the venerable Douglas DC-3, the civilian counterpart to the famed C-47 'Gooney Bird', now decked out in Ozark's white and evergreen instead of Army Air Corps colors. The Ozark route began in Kansas City, Missouri with intermediate stops in Kirksville, Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Moline, Illinois, and terminated in Chicago. With the arrival of Ozark's DC-3's also came upgrades to the airport facilities. The original paved runway was rebuilt and lengthened to accommodate the larger aircraft, and a shorter, turf, runway was retained for the use of small private planes. Still more improvements came as result of a bond issue approved by Kirksville voters in 1967. A new six-thousand foot concrete runway was constructed, as well as a new terminal building and improved hangar facilities. The longer runway was necessary to accommodate Ozark Airlines switch from the DC-3 to a newer, faster Fairchild prop-jet with larger passenger capacity. It was also in the 1960s that Ozark Airlines switched Kirksville service from a Kansas City-Chicago route to a Des Moines-to-St. Louis one. With the airport improvements also came a new name, Clarence Cannon Memorial Airport—chosen to honor long-time US Congressman Clarence Cannon of Missouri who had done much to help secure air service and funding for the airport. Despite the nearly one million dollars in facility upgrades and a steady flow of passengers in and out of Kirksville, Ozark Airlines found the route to be financially untenable by the mid-1970s, with their final departure coming on April 23, 1976. Fortunately a local pilot and dentist, Dr. Steven Barber, has established a small commuter air service, Horizon Airways, in 1972. Horizon was able to help fill the void left by Ozarks departure, eventually expanding to five aircraft and service to both Kansas City and St. Louis. [3] [4]
Kirksville Regional Airport covers an area of 409 acres (166 ha) which contains two runways: 18/36 has concrete paved surface measuring 6,005 x 100 ft (1,830 x 30 m), and 9/27 has a turf surface measuring 1,393 x 100 ft (425 x 30 m).[1]For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2006, the airport had 8,350 aircraft operations, an average of 22 per day: 78% general aviation, 14% scheduled commercial, 6% air taxi and 2% military. There are 34 aircraft based at this airport: 97% single engine and 3% multi-engine.[1]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Cape Air | St. Louis |