Eugene Airport

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Eugene Airport
Mahlon Sweet Field
Eugene Municipal Airport
2006 USGS Orthophoto
IATA: EUG – ICAO: KEUG – FAA LID: EUG
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator City of Eugene
Location Lane County, near Eugene, Oregon
Elevation AMSL 374 ft / 114 m
Coordinates 44°07′23″N 123°13′07″W / 44.12306°N 123.21861°W / 44.12306; -123.21861
Website www.flyeug.com
Map
KEUG
Location of Eugene Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
16R/34L 8,009 2,441 Asphalt
16L/34R 6,000 1,829 Asphalt
The A-gates, with jet bridges

Eugene Airport (IATA: EUG, ICAO: KEUG, FAA LID: EUG), also known as Mahlon Sweet Field, is a public airport 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Eugene, in Lane County, Oregon. Owned and operated by the City of Eugene, it is the fifth-largest airport in the Pacific Northwest.[1] The terminal building has "A" gates on the upper level and "B" gates, ticketing, and baggage claim on the lower level. The airport has an expanded air cargo facility and two fixed base operators (FBOs) to handle general aviation. By boardings of airline passengers, the Eugene Airport is the second busiest airport in Oregon with 407,098 enplanements in 2012 (behind Portland with 7,142,610 enplanements and ahead of Medford with 313,638). The airport was named for Mahlon Sweet (1886–1947), a Eugene automobile dealer who was a strong supporter of aviation and pushed to get the now-defunct Eugene Air Park built in 1919, followed by the current airfield in 1943.[2] In 2010, a new airport rescue and firefighting facility was built.[3]

Airlines and destinations

FAA Airport diagram for EUG

Eugene Airport is served by six air carriers:

Airlines Destinations
Alaska Airlines operated by Horizon Air Portland (OR), Seattle/Tacoma
Allegiant Air Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Phoenix/Mesa
Seasonal: Honolulu
American Eagle operated by SkyWest Airlines Los Angeles
Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines Salt Lake City
Frontier Airlines Seasonal: Denver
United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines Denver, Portland (OR), San Francisco

General aviation

Panorama of the airport

There is one fixed based operator on field that caters to general aviation, Atlantic Aviation. Atlantic specializes in maintenance and working on larger general aviation aircraft like Gulfstreams and Learjets. They are the only on-airport company that has fuel trucks. There is also a general aviation self serve fuel station located on the field.

Mahlon Sweet is also home to the Lane Community College Flight Academy. LCC's Flight Technology Center provides flight instruction for private, commercial, instrument, multi-engine and flight instructor. Their fleet includes several Cessna 152's, a few Piper Warrior II's, Piper Arrow IV, and a Piper Seminole.

Parking

A B-17 Flying Fortress at the airport

The parking facility is attended 24 hours a day and contains 237 short-term and more than 1000 long-term parking spaces in the main lot, with an additional 582 spaces in the overflow lot. A shuttle service serves the overflow lot when in use.

History

At the request of Mahlon Sweet the original Eugene Air Park was built in 1919 at what is now the southeast corner of West 18th Avenue and Chambers Street. This first airstrip took care of all aviation operations until the modern Mahlon Sweet Field opened in 1943.

During World War II the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Forces. The December 1951 C&GS diagram shows three runways forming an asterisk: the 026-deg runway was 5229 ft long, the 111-deg was 5205 ft and the 158-deg was 3999 ft.

Airport diagram for 1955

  • United Airlines was the first airline at Eugene. In June 1944 its Douglas DC-3s flew to Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco. United eventually flew Boeing 727 and 737 jets from the airport.
  • West Coast Airlines began service to Eugene in 1947. In later years West Coast had Fairchild F-27s and Douglas DC-9s before merging with Bonanza Airlines and Pacific Air Lines to form Air West in 1968.[4]
  • Air West became Hughes Airwest in 1970 and continued at Eugene.[5]
  • The original Frontier Airlines began two Boeing 737 flights to Denver, via Salt Lake City in July 1979. That December Frontier rerouted the Denver service through Boise.[6][7][8]
  • Eureka, California-based commuter airline, Century Airlines, began flights to Crescent City, Eureka, Portland, Sacramento, and San Francisco out of Eugene in December 1979.[8]
  • Republic Airlines acquired Hughes Airwest in September 1980 and reduced the frequencies of Hughes Airwest's flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Pasco and Yakima, and Redmond and Klamath Falls, and ended flights to Boise and Denver.[5][9]
  • In 1985 American Airlines started MD-80s to Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago via Portland on July 2.[10][11]
  • Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) began three BAe 146-200 flights to San Francisco in December, 1985.[10]
  • On August 24, 1986, the original Frontier Airlines ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy, ending its flights to Denver.[12]
  • Continental Airlines began Boeing 737 service to Eugene in April 1987, picking up Frontier Airlines' previous service to Denver. Frontier's service to the airport ended when the airline filed for bankruptcy the previous year and was acquired by Continental's parent company, the Texas Air Corporation.[13]
  • American Airlines flew three daily Boeing 737s to San Jose from December 2, 1988 until September 10, 1993.[14][15][16]
  • Delta Connection (SkyWest Airlines) flew CRJ-200s nonstop to Salt Lake City from March 1995 until 1998, when it ended the route due to a fleet shortage.[17][18]
  • America West Express (operated by Mesa Airlines) started regional jet flights to Phoenix in September 1999.[19]
  • Delta Connection (operated by SkyWest Airlines) resumed Canadair regional jet service to Salt Lake City on May 1, 2004, with $1.2 million of incentives offered by various public and private sources to kick-start service.[20]
  • United Airlines flew Boeing 737s to San Francisco until January 6, 2003 (United Flight 1423 was the last 737 flight out of Eugene). United had served Eugene with Boeing 727s as well.
  • SkyWest Airlines took over for United, flying Canadair regional jets and operating as United Express to San Francisco on January 7, 2003.
  • America West Express (operated by Mesa Airlines) also started flights to Las Vegas in March 1, 2003.
  • Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, flew to Los Angeles from June 4, 2007 until June 6, 2010.[21]
  • In 2005 the crosswind runway was removed and replaced with Runway 16L/34R, 6,000 feet (1,800 m) long parallel to the primary runway 16R/34L.
  • United Airlines resumed Boeing 737 flights to San Francisco in March 2008 but ended them that August.[22]
  • Delta Connection (operated by ExpressJet Airlines) flew Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets nonstop to Los Angeles until September 1, 2008 when Delta ended its contract with the ExpressJet.[23]
  • Allegiant Air began MD-80 flights nonstop to Phoenix/Mesa in October 2008.[24]
  • Allegiant Air launched twice weekly MD-80 flights nonstop to Los Angeles on June 3, 2010 and continues.[21]
  • Allegiant Air announced Eugene's first non-stop service to Hawaii in 2012. The once weekly flight to Honolulu was launched on November 17, 2012 on a Boeing 757-200, the largest scheduled airliner at Eugene.[25]
  • On February 18, 2013, Frontier Airlines announced new Eugene–Denver service three times per week scheduled from May 16 to September 8.[26]
  • In April 2013 American Airlines announced twice-daily flights to Los Angeles on Skywest Airlines, to begin June 12.[27]

Incidents and Accidents

  • On May 2, 1986, a Horizon Air Fairchild Metroliner was hijacked during a flight from Eugene to Portland. The flight was carrying 12 passengers and two pilots when it was hijacked by Douglas Burton Thomas, an unemployed Oklahoma man who was checking into a rehabilitation center in Eugene. The pilots then convinced the hijacker to allow the plane to stop in Hillsboro, where the pilot then left the plane and called the FBI. The hijacker then held passengers and crew hostage on the aircraft while he demanded fuel, drinking water, and four parachutes and threatened to kill one passenger or blow up the plane if these demands were not met. During negotiations with the FBI, four of the passengers were released shortly and the remainder about half an hour later. This left the hijacker alone on the aircraft, however he surrendered about 15 minutes later. It was later discovered that the hijacker had boarded the aircraft without a ticket.[28]
  • On November 10, 1988, an American Airlines flight from San Jose to Seattle made an emergency landing in Eugene after severe vibrations were observed during the flight. Of the 31 passengers on board, there were no injuries reported and the passengers were flown to their destinations on other airlines.[29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Airport Manager Recruitment Brochure" (PDF). City of Eugene. Retrieved 2007-05-28. 
  2. ↑ Friendly Area neighborhood website
  3. ↑ "Eugene Airport Master Plan Executive Summary". Retrieved 2013-04-28. 
  4. ↑ "Republic halts Eugene service". The Register-Guard. July 7, 1984. Retrieved July 23, 2012. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Republic Airlines taking over Hughes". The Register-Guard. September 19, 1980. Retrieved July 23, 2012. 
  6. ↑ "Despite setbacks, airport is growing". The Register-Guard. October 19, 1980. Retrieved July 21, 2012. 
  7. ↑ "Airport commission approves design for remodeling". The Register-Guard. April 25, 1979. Retrieved July 23, 2012. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Century Airlines to start service at Mahlon Sweet". The Register-Guard. December 1, 1979. Retrieved July 23, 2012. 
  9. ↑ "Airline to cut Eugene flights". The Register-Guard. October 16, 1980. Retrieved July 23, 2012. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Economy to offer few surprises". The Register-Guard. December 31, 1985. Retrieved August 1, 2012. 
  11. ↑ "Something special is happening to Eugene". The Register-Guard. June 18, 1985. Retrieved August 9, 2012. 
  12. ↑ "Frontier Airlines Closes". The St. Petersburg Times. August 25, 1986. Retrieved July 25, 2012. 
  13. ↑ "Continental to start flying from Eugene". The Register-Guard. March 7, 1987. Retrieved July 25, 2012. 
  14. ↑ "Airline to provide Eugene with 3 flights to San Jose". The Register-Guard. October 5, 1988. Retrieved July 21, 2012. 
  15. ↑ "Airport expects boost from Hyundai". The Register-Guard. June 8, 1995. Retrieved July 21, 2012. 
  16. ↑ "Officials upbeat about airport's future". The Register-Guard. April 20, 1994. Retrieved August 9, 2012. 
  17. ↑ "Eugene close to landing Delta". The Register-Guard. January 13, 2004. Retrieved August 1, 2012. 
  18. ↑ "Airport gets new carrier". The Register-Guard. January 25, 1995. Retrieved August 1, 2012. 
  19. ↑ "U.S. Airways, America West to join". The Register-Guard. May 20, 2005. Retrieved July 21, 2012. 
  20. ↑ "Flights to Utah set to take off May 1". The Register-Guard. February 24, 2004. Retrieved August 1, 2012. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Allegiant Air will offer nonstop flights to L.A.". The Register-Guard. April 7, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2012. 
  22. ↑ "Airlines cut some Eugene flights". KVAL News. April 30, 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2012. 
  23. ↑ "Delta to cut more L.A. flights". The Los Angeles Times. July 4, 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2012. 
  24. ↑ "Small Airline Adding Service To Eugene". OPB News. August 7, 2008. Retrieved July 20, 2012. 
  25. ↑ "Allegiant Announces New Flights From the Mainland to Hawaii" (Press release). Allegiant Air. May 15, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2012. 
  26. ↑ Russo, Edward (February 19, 2013). "Frontier touching down in Eugene". The Register-Guard. Retrieved April 18, 2013. 
  27. ↑ McDonald, Sherri Buri (April 5, 2013). "American Airlines plans L.A. flights". The Register-Guard. Retrieved April 18, 2013. 
  28. ↑ "Man forces arraignment on charge of air piracy". The Bulletin. May 5, 1986. Retrieved August 13, 2012. 
  29. ↑ "Emergency landing". The Modesto Bee. November 11, 1988. Retrieved August 9, 2012. 

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