Northern Colorado Regional Airport , formerly known as the Fort Collins–Loveland Municipal Airport, is a public use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located nine

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s (10 mi, 17 km) southeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of Fort Collins and northeast of Loveland, both cities in

Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for William Larimer, Jr., the founder of Denver. ...

, United States. The airport is situated west of Interstate 25 and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

is located about south. It is most notable for serving the tourist areas of northern Colorado, such as the

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...

, which is situated directly west of the airport. FNL primarily serves the Fort Collins–Loveland Metropolitan area located in Larimer County. The population for the metropolitan area is approximately 300,000. Avelo Airlines launched service to both

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, and

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, in October 2021, it was announced that they would cease all service at KFNL by June 24, 2022, via press release from the airport, citing increased fuel and supply prices for their exit. As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

records, the airport had 31,094 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...

2008, 31,079 enplanements in 2009, and 35,671 in 2010 when Allegiant Air was providing scheduled service. It is included in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' airport.

History

FNL opened in 1964 under joint agreement and ownership by Loveland and Fort Collins. The construction of the airport followed a significant rise in Colorado State University's (CSU) enrollment due to the civil rights movement. The name was officially changed by the Northern Colorado Regional Airport Commission at the regular Commission meeting on April 27, 2016, to the Northern Colorado Regional Airport to better reflect the area served by the airport.

Operation and management

FNL is jointly (50/50) owned and operated by the two cities of Loveland and Fort Collins. This means that it is publicly owned by the cities and follows a municipal structure. The Northern Colorado Regional Airport Commission provides direction for airport staff and is made up of two mayors and two city managers (one from each city) and three at large citizen members. There is no airport authority, which means funding and decisions are made on behalf of the two cities. However, to ensure proper balance in the decision-making process, the commission is required to communicate with both city councils and involve them in financial and development activities that occur outside of the councils' approved standard form. This was changed under the amended and restated Intergovermental Agreement dated June 7, 2016. The airport manager at FNL is Jason Licon, who previously served 10 years as airport manager for the Kankakee Valley Airport Authority in

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves as an ...

Facilities and aircraft

Northern Colorado Regional Airport covers an area of 1,065

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (431 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 5,020 feet (1,530 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has two

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s with

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surfaces: 15/33 is and 6/24 is . For the 12-month period ending January 1, 2012, the airport had 107,360 aircraft operations, an average of 294 per day: 96%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 3%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

, 1% scheduled commercial, and <1%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. At that time there were 237 aircraft based at this airport: 89% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, 5%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, 3%

jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

, 3% multi-engine, and <1%

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

. On October 2, 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that the airport would be used as a test facility for a remote air traffic control tower. This uses sensors and cameras that are operated remotely. The cost for this test phase was quoted at , paid for by the Colorado Aviation Fund, and unanimously passed by the board of the

Colorado Division of Aeronautics Colorado Division of Aeronautics is part of the Colorado Department of Transportation. The Division's main office is located at Front Range Airport. Aeronautics Board The seven-member Colorado Aeronautical Board (CAB) was created by statute in 1988 ...

Past and future airline service

From the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, Fort Collins received service by small commuter airlines providing shuttle flights to Denver. There was then no service from about 1985 through 1990. From 1990 through 1993, the airport was served by

Continental Express Continental Express was the operating brand name used by a number of independently owned regional airlines providing commuter airliner and regional jet feeder service under agreement with Continental Airlines. In 2012 at the time of the merger be ...

on behalf of

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

and from 1992 through 1997 by

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

on behalf of

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

. Both carriers operated shuttle flights to Denver using mainly

Beechcraft 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With c ...

aircraft. Continental Express also used larger

ATR 42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now Airbus) and ...

aircraft. The airport was then served by Allegiant Air from 2003 until October 2012. In August, 2012, the airline e-mailed airport officials revealing that operations would end. The airline said it was due to an "internal business decision" to airport officials for a period of several months. In late September 2012, at a Texas airline conference, Allegiant CEO Maurice Gallagher told a reporter from

, that the airline left because the airport had no control tower. Since then, the airline has not elaborated on that issue. Allegiant Air previously operated

McDonnell Douglas MD-80 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

jetliners into Loveland with nonstop service to and from Las Vegas and Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport. There was air service between the Northern Colorado Regional Airport and the Chicago Rockford International Airport, which was announced in June 2015, operated by

Elite Airways Elite Airways is an airline based in the United States operating charter and scheduled passenger flights. The airline adjusts destinations as demand increases or decreases. The airline is headquartered in Portland, Maine. History Elite Airways ...

beginning on August 27, 2015. Elite Airways primarily used the 50 passenger Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet and the 70 passenger Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet on the Fort Collins to Chicago/Rockford flights. On October 28, 2016, the flights with Elite Airways ended. In 2018 the Colorado Department of Transportation Division of Aeronautics was nearing completion on the Remote Tower Project at the airport. In 2021, Avelo Airlines announced that it would begin operations at the airport, with flights to Hollywood Burbank Airport in California launching on October 6, 2021. This service was suspended by the airline on June 24, 2022. In 2021 United Airlines in partnership with Landline started operating "wingless" options with 4 times per day bus service to Denver International Airport. Luggage is checked through to your final destination. Passengers are presently not screened through TSA and will require them to go through security at the Denver International Airport. However, departures from Denver depart from the concourse level.

References

* FNL. (2007). Master plan update: inventory of existing conditions. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20101217062241/http://fortloveair.com/img/site_specific/uploads/A_Inventory_of_Existing_Conditions.pdf * History Connection. (2006). Fort Collins timeline 1960. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20110710232830/http://history.fcgov.com/archive/timeline/1960.php

External links

Northern Colorado Regional Airport

Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL)
at

Colorado DOT The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT, pronounced See Dot) is the principal department of the Colorado state government that administers state government transportation responsibilities in the state of Colorado. CDOT is responsible f ...

airport directory
Aerial image as of October 1999
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Colorado Regional Airport Airports in Colorado Buildings and structures in Fort Collins, Colorado Transportation buildings and structures in Larimer County, Colorado Transportation in Fort Collins, Colorado