Joplin Regional Airport is located north of Joplin, in

Jasper County, Missouri Jasper County is located in the southwest portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 122,761. Its county seat is Carthage, and its largest city is Joplin. The county was organized in 1841 and named for W ...

. It has airline service, which is subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

program. The

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 ...

(FAA)

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 2021–2025 categorized it as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

History

American Eagle ATR-72 at Joplin Regional Airport

Historical airline service

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

Mid 1940s until 1963. Joplin was one of many stops on a route between Dallas and Chicago.

Ozark Airlines Ozark Air Lines was an airline that operated in the United States from 1950 until 1986 when it was purchased by Trans World Airlines (TWA). In 2001, TWA was merged into American Airlines. A smaller regional airline that used the Ozark name ( ...

1950-1986 to Springfield, MO, St. Louis, Chicago, Tulsa, and Dallas/Fort Worth. Ozark began the first jets to Joplin in 1968 with the

Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

Central Airlines Central Airlines was a passenger airline (the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) called it a "local service" air carrier) in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to oper ...

1955-1967 to Kansas City, Fayetteville, and Fort Smith. Central merged into Frontier Airlines in 1967.

Frontier Airlines 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 ...

1967-1984 to Kansas City, Fort Smith and Little Rock. Direct service to Denver began in 1978 using

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

jets.

Air Midwest Air Midwest, Inc., was a Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificated air carrier that operated under air carrier certificate number AMWA510A issued on May 15, 1965. It was headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States, and was a sub ...

(own branding) 1982-1986 and again 1989-1991 to Kansas City, Tulsa, Fayetteville, and Little Rock. Air Midwest also operated a series of major airline

Codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

s as noted below. Resort Air 1984-1985 to St. Louis. Became

Trans World Express Trans World Express (TWE) was the fully owned and certificated, regional carrier for Trans World Airlines (TWA) and an airline trademark name for TWA's corporation. * Trans World Express - The formerly independent regional airline known as Ranso ...

in 1985. Scheduled Skyways 1985 to Kansas City. Merged into Air Midwest in 1985. Ozark Midwest 1985-1986 to St. Louis. Operated by

. Ozark merged into

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

in 1986.

Eastern Express The Eastern Express ( tr, Doğu Ekspresi) is an overnight passenger train operated by the Turkish State Railways. The train runs from Ankara Railway Station to Kars Railway Station in Kars. The train was the first overnight service east of Ank ...

1986-1988 to Kansas City. Operated by

. Braniff Express 1988-1989 to Kansas City. Operated by

USAir Express US Airways Express was the brand name for the regional affiliate of US Airways, under which a number of individually owned commuter air carriers and regional airlines operate short and medium haul routes. This code sharing service was previously o ...

1991-1992 to Kansas City. Operated by

Northwest Airlink Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium-siz ...

1986-2002 to Memphis. Operated by

Mesaba Airlines Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (operating as Mesaba Airlines) was an American regional airline based in Eagan, Minnesota From 2010 to 2012 the airline was a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation with code sharing flights operated as Delt ...

and

Pinnacle Airlines Endeavor Air is an American regional airline that operates as Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. The airline was founded as Express Airlines I in 1985 and was renamed Pinnacle Airlines in 2002. In 2012, Pinnacle's parent company filed for Cha ...

1985-2001 to St. Louis. Operated by Resort Air which later changed to

Trans States Airlines Trans States Airlines was a regional airline owned by Trans States Holdings and headquartered in Bridgeton, Missouri. At the time of its closing, the airline operated flights for United Airlines under the United Express brand. Trans States Airlin ...

. TWA merged into

in 2001 providing American Connection service.

Lone Star Airlines Lone Star Airlines was an American regional airline that operated both domestic and international flights. For much of the airline's life its headquarters were located in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas. The airline's largest hub w ...

1991-1995 to Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis, and Columbia, MO. Ozark Airlines (second) 2000-2001 to Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago-Midway (one stop at Columbia, MO).

American Connection AmericanConnection was an American flight connection service brand name for the spoke-hub of U.S. mainline carrier American Airlines, under which regional airline operator Chautauqua Airlines operated feeder flights for American Airlines at ...

2001-2006 to St. Louis (formerly Trans World Express). Operated by

US Airways Express US Airways Express was the brand name for the regional affiliate of US Airways, under which a number of individually owned commuter air carriers and regional airlines operate short and medium haul routes. This code sharing service was previously ...

2006-2008 to Kansas City. Operated by

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Gr ...

October 5, 2006 through 2007 to Dallas/Fort Worth.

Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines was an American regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters were in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a hub at Denver International Airport. As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines ...

2008 through February 10, 2011 to Kansas City.

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

February 11, 2011 through May 31, 2021 to Dallas/Fort Worth. Flights to Chicago-O'Hare began on June 6, 2019 and were operated by

Executive Airlines Executive Airlines, Inc. was a Puerto Rican regional airline headquartered at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the main airport for the United States territory, near the capitol of San Juan. The airline was a ...

American Eagle Airlines Envoy Air Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Irving, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Airline ...

Envoy Air Envoy Air Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Irving, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Airl ...

ExpressJet ExpressJet Airlines was a Regional airline, regional List of defunct airlines of the United States (D–I), U.S. airline headquartered in College Park, Georgia. The company originally operated as a contracted Codeshare agreement, codeshare part ...

, and

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah, United States. SkyWest is paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. The ...

. American Eagle first began service with 64-passenger

ATR-72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed by ...

prop aircraft then upgraded with

Regional Jet A regional jet (RJ) is a jet-powered regional airliner with fewer than 100 seats. The first one was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by the widespread Yakovlev Yak-40, Fokker F-28, and BAe 146. The 1990s saw the emergence of th ...

s in 2012. All American Eagle service ended due to a significant drop in traffic caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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 ...

June 1, 2021 - current to Denver, Chicago-O'Hare, and Houston Intercontinental. The Houston flights were dropped in late 2021. Joplin had operated under the

program but graduated from the program in the 2010's after passenger traffic greatly increased with the American Eagle regional jet service. Joplin then returned to the EAS program after traffic dropped significantly with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. On March 10, 2022, the current provider,

dba

filed to withdraw service to Joplin and 28 other cities served under the EAS program citing a shortage of pilots.Multiple editions of the Official Airline Guide

Facilities

The airport covers at an elevation of . It has two asphalt runways: 13/31 is 6,501 by 150 feet (1,982 × 46 m) and 18/36 is 6,501 by 100 feet (1,982 × 30 m). For the year ending December 31, 2021 the airport had 18,519 aircraft operations, an average of 51 per day: 92%

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 ...

, 8% airline and less than 1% military. In June 2022, there were 128 aircraft based at this airport: 105 single-engine, 10 multi-engine, 8 jets, 2 helicopter and 3

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

s. The fixed based operator (FBO) at Joplin Regional Airport is Mizzou Aviation, near the General Aviation terminal.

Airline and destinations

Passenger

Statistics

Carrier shares

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2006-23932
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

: *
Order 2006-5-11 (May 12, 2006)
selecting Air Midwest, Inc., d/b/a US Airways Express, to provide essential air service at Joplin, Missouri, for a two-year period at a subsidy of $849,757 annually. *
Order 2008-7-8 (July 3, 2008)
selecting Great Lakes Airlines, Ltd. to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Grand Island, Nebraska; Joplin, Missouri; El Dorado/Camden, Harrison, and Hot Springs, Arkansas; at a combined annual subsidy of $9,159,331 ($2,271,640 for Grand Island, $2,311,637 for El Dorado/Camden, $1,587,067 for Harrison, $1,991,307 for Hot Springs, and $997,680 for Joplin), for a two-year period beginning when Great Lakes inaugurates full EAS through the end of the 24th month thereafter. *
Order 2010-9-9 (September 8, 2010)
selecting Executive Airlines d/b/a American Eagle Airlines to provide essential air service (EAS) at Joplin, Missouri, for an annual subsidy of $2,778,756, for a two-year period beginning when the carrier inaugurates service.

External links

Joplin Regional Airport
official site
Aerial image as of March 1996
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 ...

'' * * * {{authority control Airports in Missouri Essential Air Service Buildings and structures in Jasper County, Missouri