Eugene Airport

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 three 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 337,483). 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

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Top destinations

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.

Eugene Flight Center, a flight school and charter operation, operates on the north end of the airport. They offer charter and aerial photography flights as well as flight instruction. Fairbanks Aircraft Service LLC is collocated with Eugene Flight Center and offers general aviation maintenance and repair services.

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. Lane Aviation Academy is located at the southern end of Mahlon Sweet Field. The Aviation Maintenance Technician program is one of the oldest FAA Pt. 147 approved AMT schools in continuous operation. The AMT program also operates a Pt. 145 Approved Repair Station. During the two-year program the students are taught all aspects of aircraft and helicopter maintenance and repair in preparation to pass the written and oral and practical exams to obtain an FAA Airframe and Powerplants (A&P) certificates.

Parking

Terminal at Eugene Airport, March 2015

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

Historical airline service

• United Airlines was the first airline to serve Eugene. In June 1944 its Douglas DC-3s flew to Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco with these flights making various intermediate stops en route. United eventually operated Boeing 727-100, 727-200, 737-200, 737-300 and 737-500 jetliners into the airport with nonstop service to Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland.
• West Coast Airlines began Douglas DC-3 service to Eugene in 1947. In later years West Coast operated Piper Navajo prop aircraft, Fairchild F-27 turboprops and Douglas DC-9-10 jets into the airport before merging with Bonanza Airlines and Pacific Air Lines to form Air West in 1968.^[5] Shortly before the merger in 1968, West Coast was operating DC-9 jet service to San Francisco via a stop in Medford and also nonstop to Portland with continuing, no change of plane jet service to Seattle (served via Boeing Field), Boise and Salt Lake City.^[6]
• Air West was renamed Hughes Airwest in 1970 with each airline serving Eugene with Douglas DC-9-10 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners.^[7] In the summer of 1968, Air West was flying a routing of Spokane-Pasco-Yakima-Portland-Eugene-Medford-San Francisco-Fresno-Las Vegas with a DC-9 and was also operating nonstop DC-9 jet service to San Francisco.^[8] By the summer of 1980, Hughes Airwest had become an all-jet airline and was flying nonstop DC-9 jet service from Eugene to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boise and Pasco with direct, no change of plane DC-9 jet flights being operated to Denver, Tucson, Redding, Redmond, Klamath Falls, and Yakima.^[9]
• The original Frontier Airlines began flying a pair of Boeing 737-200 one stop direct flights to Denver via Salt Lake City in July 1979. That December, Frontier rerouted its Denver service via a stop in Boise.^[10][11][12]
• Eureka, CA-based commuter air carrier Century Airlines began flights to Crescent City, Eureka, Portland, Sacramento, and San Francisco out of Eugene in December 1979.^[12]
• Portland, Oregon-based commuter air carrier Air Oregon began serving the airport in the late 1970s and by 1981 was operating Fokker F27 Friendship and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner propjets on flights to Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno, Eureka, Redding, Medford, Redmond, Pendleton and North Bend.^[13]
• Republic Airlines acquired Hughes Airwest in September 1980 and continued to operate DC-9 jet service into the airport but reduced the frequency of flights formerly operated by Hughes Airwest to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Pasco, Yakima, Redmond and Klamath Falls, and also ceased all flights to Boise and Denver.^[7][14] During the summer of 1984, the airline was flying just two nonstop routes to San Francisco and Portland,^[15] and by the spring of 1985, Republic had ceased serving Eugene.^[16]
• Horizon Air acquired Air Oregon in 1981 and began serving Eugene with flights to Portland, Seattle and other destinations in the Pacific Northwest with Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprops. Horizon Air continues to serve the airport and has done so for 35 years.
• In the fall of 1984, Cascade Airways began serving the airport with British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets as well as Hawker Siddeley HS-748 and Beechcraft 1900C turboprops. Cascade operated BAC One-Eleven jet service nonstop to Portland and Medford, and also flew the British twin jet direct to Seattle, Spokane and Calgary from Eugene.^[17]
• In 1985, American Airlines initiated direct, one stop McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliner service to Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago via Portland on July 2.^[18][19]
• Also in 1985, Cascade Airways was continuing to operate Hawker Siddeley HS-748 and Beechcraft 1900C turboprop flights to Portland as well as to other destinations in the Pacific Northwest after ending its BAC One-Eleven jet service into the airport.^[20]
• Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) began three British Aerospace BAe 146-200 jet flights a day to San Francisco in December, 1985.^[18]
• On August 24, 1986, the original Frontier Airlines ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy, ending its flights to Denver.^[21]
• Continental Airlines began Boeing 737-300 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.^[22]
• Following its acquisition of Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), USAir (subsequently renamed US Airways) operated British Aerospace BAe 146-200 jets from the airport in 1989 with flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Medford.^[23]
• Also in 1989, United Express operated by North Pacific Airlines was flying Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia and British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31 turboprop service to Portland and Seattle.^[23]
• American Airlines flew three daily Boeing 737-200 jet flights to its San Jose (SJC) hub from December 2, 1988 until September 10, 1993.^[24][25][26]
• Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines flew Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets nonstop to Salt Lake City from March 1995 until 1998, when it ended service on the route due to a fleet shortage.^[27][28]
• In 1999, Air Wisconsin operating as United Express was operating nonstop flights to Denver with British Aerospace BAe 146 jets in addition to nonstop Boeing 727-200 service flown by United Airlines on the same route.^[29]
• America West Express operated by Mesa Airlines started regional jet flights to Phoenix in September 1999.^[30]
• Delta Connection operated by SkyWest Airlines resumed Canadair CRJ-200 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.^[31]
• United Airlines flew Boeing 737s to San Francisco until January 6, 2003 (United Flight 1423 was the last Boeing 737 flight operated by the airline out of Eugene until United briefly resumed mainline service in 2008). United had previously served Eugene with Boeing 727-100s and 727-200s as well.
• SkyWest Airlines took over for United, flying Canadair CRJ-200 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 nonstop to Los Angeles from June 4, 2007 until June 6, 2010.^[32] The airline continues to operate flights to Portland and Seattle with the Bombardier Q400 propjet which is the largest and fastest member of the Dash 8 regional turboprop airliner family.
• 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 then ended this jet service in August of the same year.^[33]
• 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 ExpressJet for service on the Eugene-LAX route.^[34]
• Allegiant Air began McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jet service nonstop to Phoenix/Mesa in October 2008 in addition to its nonstop MD-80 service to Las Vegas.^[35]
• Allegiant Air then launched twice weekly MD-80 flights nonstop to Los Angeles on June 3, 2010.^[32]
• Allegiant Air announced Eugene's first nonstop service to Hawaii in 2012. The once a week flight to Honolulu was launched on November 17, 2012 and was flown with a Boeing 757-200, the largest passenger jetliner to serve Eugene on a scheduled basis.^[36] However, Allegiant subsequently ceased flying nonstop service to Honolulu from Eugene although the airline continues to fly nonstop service from the airport with mainline jet aircraft to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland and Phoenix/Mesa.
• On February 18, 2013, the current version of Frontier Airlines announced new Eugene–Denver service three times per week scheduled from May 16 to September 8.^[37] Frontier Airlines subsequently ceased all service to Eugene.
• In April 2013 American Airlines announced twice-daily Canadair CRJ-200 regional jet flights to Los Angeles (LAX) flown by Skywest Airlines operating as American Eagle, to begin June 2013.^[38]

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.^[39]
• 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.^[40]

See also

• Mahlon Sweet Field Heliport
• Oregon World War II Army Airfields

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eugene Airport.

• Eugene Airport (official site)
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective February 4, 2016
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KEUG
  • ASN accident history for EUG
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KEUG
  • FAA current EUG delay information

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