Mercer County Airport is in Mercer County, three miles northeast of

Bluefield, West Virginia Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bluefield WV- VA micropolitan area, which had a population of 106,363 in 2020. Geography Bluefie ...

and about nine miles southwest of

Princeton, West Virginia Princeton, is a city in and the county seat of Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The city is coined the "Heart of Mercer County" or the "Jewel of the South" in past decades. The population was 6,432 at the 2010 census with approximat ...

. 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 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. The airport has been served by scheduled airlines. Service was 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 until August 1, 2006, when it ended due to federal law not allowing a subsidy over $200 per passenger for communities within 210 miles of a large or medium hub airport (

Charlotte/Douglas International Airport Charlotte Douglas International Airport ( IATA: CLT, ICAO: KCLT, FAA LID: CLT), typically referred to as Charlotte Douglas, Douglas Airport, or simply CLT, is an international airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, located roughly six miles we ...

in North Carolina being 173 miles away).

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 say Mercer County Airport had 2,041 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2004, 1,885 enplanments in 2005, 1,833 in 2006 and 1,721 in 2007. Scheduled passenger flights ended in 2007.

Facilities

Mercer County Airport covers 144

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 (58 ha) at an elevation of 2,857 feet (871 m). Its one runway, 5/23, is 4,743 by 100 feet (1,446 x 30 m) asphalt. In the year ending October 30, 2009 the airport had 16,400 aircraft operations, average 44 per day: 88%

, 11%

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 ...

, and 1% military. 22 aircraft were then based at this airport: 64% single-engine, 9% multi-engine, 9% jet, 14%

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 ...

, and 5%

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 ...

Former airlines

Piedmont Airlines Piedmont Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered at the Salisbury Regional Airport in unincorporated Wicomico County, Maryland, near the city of Salisbury. The airline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Airlines ...

1953–54 to 1980 (the airport opened about 1953) * Appalachian Airlines (ended operations in 1980) *

Colgan Air Colgan Air was an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air were located in Memphis, Tennessee. Colgan Air operated for Continental Express/United Express, and US Airways Expre ...

(ended operations November 12, 2007) * Aeromech Airlines (service during the early 1980s)Aeromech timetbles 1982 & 1983

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-1997-2761
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 2002-4-25 (May 2, 2002)
tentatively reselects Colgan Air, Inc. d/b/a US Airways Express, to provide essential air services at Beckley and Bluefield/Princeton, West Virginia, for the two-year period beginning August 1, 2002, at an annual subsidy rate to $2,067,693, *
Order 2002-10-34 (October 31, 2002)
finalizes the tentative findings and conclusions set forth in Order 2002-4-25. *
Order 2004-6-14 (June 23, 2004)
selects Colgan Air, Inc., d/b/a US Airways Express, to continue providing essential air service at Beckley and Bluefield/Princeton, West Virginia, for the two-year period beginning August 1, 2004, at an annual subsidy of $20,017,064. *
Order 2006-6-22 (June 26, 2006)
terminating the essential air service subsidy eligibility of Bluefield/Princeton, West Virginia, as of August 1, 2006, and allowing Colgan Air, Inc., d/b/a US Airways Express, to suspend service there as of the same date, if it chooses (subsidy per passenger already exceeded the statutory ceiling of $200 per passenger and the community is located 173 miles from Charlotte, the nearest large or medium hub).

External links

West Virginia DOT The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) is the state agency responsible for transportation in West Virginia. The Department of Transportation serves an umbrella organization for seven subsidiary agencies which are directly respons ...

Airport Directory * {{US-airport-ga, BLF Airports in West Virginia Buildings and structures in Mercer County, West Virginia Transportation in Mercer County, West Virginia Former Essential Air Service airports