Acadiana Regional Airport

Acadiana Regional Airport
IATA: ARA – ICAO: KARA – FAA LID: ARA
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Iberia Parish
Location New Iberia, Louisiana
Elevation AMSL 24 ft / 7 m
Coordinates 30°02′16″N 091°53′02″W / 30.03778°N 91.88389°W
Website www.iberiabiz.com/...
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
16/34 8,002 2,439 Concrete
16W/34W 5,000 1,524 Water
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 95,851
Based aircraft 46

Acadiana Regional Airport (IATA: ARA, ICAO: KARA, FAA LID: ARA) is a public use airport in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is owned by Iberia Parish and is located four nautical miles (7 km) northwest of the central business district of New Iberia, Louisiana.[1] From 1960 to 1965 it was operated by the U.S. Navy as Naval Air Station (NAS) New Iberia.

Facilities and aircraft

Acadiana Regional Airport (ARA) covers an area of 2,328 acres (942 ha) at an elevation of 24 feet (7 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 16/34 which measures 8,002 by 200 feet (2,439 x 61 m). It also has one seaplane water runway landing area designated 16W/34W which measures 5,000 by 150 feet (1,524 x 46 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending January 31, 2007, the airport had 95,851 aircraft operations, an average of 262 per day: 58% general aviation and 32% air taxi, 10% military and <1% scheduled commercial, At that time there were 46 aircraft based at this airport: 46% single-engine, 15% multi-engine, 2% jet and 37% helicopter.[1] ARA serves as a helicopter flight training location for several companies.

Two major aviation companies are currently based at the airport: Aviation Exteriors Louisiana, Inc. (which does business as AvEx) and Bristow Helicopters, a division of the Bristow Group.[2][3]

According to its website, AvEx has extensive experience painting commercial jetliners at its large hangar facility located on the airport, including Airbus A300, A310, A319 and A320 aircraft; Boeing 737-300, 737-400, 747-400, 757-200, 767-300, 777-200, 777-300 and 787 aircraft; and McDonnell Douglas DC-10, MD-11, MD-80 and MD-90 aircraft. AvEx also lists Boeing and FedEx on its website as two of its current major customers for aircraft painting services.

U.S. based Bristow is a large, worldwide operator of helicopters for the offshore oil and gas industry, including in the nearby Gulf of Mexico. Bristow currently operates AgustaWestland AW139, Bell 407, Sikorsky S-76 (S-76C+ and S-76C++ models) and Sikorsky S-92 helicopters with these rotorcraft types being maintained at its Gulf of Mexico operational headquarters located on the airport.

ARA was also the location of the former headquarters for Gulf Air Transport, a charter airline which operated jetliners such as the Boeing 727 (727-100 and 727-200 models) and stretched Douglas DC-8 (Super DC-8-61, Super DC-8-63 and Super DC-8-71 models) as well as Convair 580 and Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops among other aircraft types.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 FAA Airport Master Record for ARA (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2009-07-02.
  2. ↑ http://www.avexpainting.com
  3. ↑ http://www.bristowgroup.com

External links