Greeley–Weld County 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 surfa ...

located three nautical miles (6 km) east of the central business district of Greeley, a city in

Weld County, Colorado Weld County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 328,981. The county seat is Greeley. Weld County comprises the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Denver ...

, United States. It is owned by the Greeley–Weld County Airport Authority. This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''

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 ...

'' facility.

History

The airport opened in June, 1944, as Greeley Municipal Airport. In September of that year it was dedicated as Crosier Field in honor of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

aviator Clarence F. "Red" Crosier. Joint ownership by the City of Greeley and Weld County began in 1963, with a new terminal and hangars added throughout that decade. The Greeley–Weld County Airport Authority was established in 1978 and is responsible for operation and development of the airport. A new runway and a new terminal were opened in 2000. Greeley saw commercial airline service beginning in the late 1940's when

Challenger Airlines Challenger Airlines was a United States airline incorporated in Wyoming, December 31, 1941, by Charles W. Hirsig II, as Summit Airways Inc., a non-scheduled carrier. In 1944, Hirsig filed an application with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Docke ...

began serving the city as one of many stops on routes between Denver and Billings, MT as well as between Denver and Salt Lake City. Douglas DC-3 aircraft were used. Challenger was merged to become

Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

in 1950 but service ended within a few years. Service was also provided in 1969 and 1970 by commuter carrier Trans Central Airlines with flights to Denver using

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft. This line was manufactured by Cessna from 1966 to 1985 under the name Utiliner and Businessliner.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplane ...

aircraft.Frontier and Trans Central Airlines timetables

Facilities and aircraft

According to the , Greeley–Weld County Airport covers an area of 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 § Ver ...

of 4,697 feet (1,432 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. 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, concre ...

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 ...

surfaces: 17/35 is and 10/28 is . It also has two helipads designated H1 and H2, each with concrete surface measuring . According to the FAA, for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2018, the airport had 110,660 aircraft operations: 99.5%

and 0.5%

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 145 aircraft based at this airport: 121 (83%) 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 ...

, 16 (11%) multi-engine, 5 (3%) jet, and 5 (3%)

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 ...

. The

233rd Space Group The 233d Space Group (233 SG) is a unit of the Colorado Air National Guard located at Greeley Air National Guard Station, Greeley. The 233d Space Group provides immediate, worldwide missile warning, space launch and detection in the event of a ...

(233rd SG) is a unit of the Colorado Air National Guard located at Greeley Air National Guard Station, which is adjacent to the Greeley–Weld County Airport and makes use of its runways.

References

External links

*
Greeley - Weld County Airport (GXY)
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 pro ...

'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greeley-Weld County Airport Airports in Colorado Transportation buildings and structures in Weld County, Colorado

History

Facilities and aircraft

See also

References

External links