Monroe Regional 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 ...

Ouachita Parish, Louisiana Ouachita Parish ( French: ''Paroisse d'Ouachita'') is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 160,368. The parish seat is Monroe. The parish was formed in 1807. Ouachita Parish ...

, United States. The airport is owned by the City of Monroe and is located three

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 (6 km) east of its

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 ...

. 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 since it has over 10,000 passenger boardings (enplanements) per year. 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 107,290 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 ...

2011, an increase of 6.8% from 100,419 in 2010. The airport is advertised as the birthplace of

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

; the airport's logo is a variant on the Delta logo.

History

During

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 opposin ...

, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Flying Training Command Flying Training Command was an Command (military formation), organization of the Royal Air Force; it controlled flight training units. The command's headquarters were at Shinfield Park, Reading, Berkshire, Reading in Berkshire. History Flying ...

used the airport as a cadet training center beginning in August 1942. The airfield was named Selman Army Airfield, named after a Navy Pilot, Lieutenant Augustus J. Selman, USN, a native of Monroe, Louisiana, who died in the line of duty at

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, on November 28, 1921, of injuries received in an airplane crash. The vast majority of aircraft flown at Selman AAF were Beech C-45s, also known as the AT-7. BT-13s were flown for basic flying training, and TC-47 and TC-46s were used beginning in late 1944. It closed on until September 1, 1945. After that Selman AAF was used as a separation center for returning overseas personnel until being inactivated on May 31, 1946. The airport was returned to civil control on July 31, 1946. Monroe was served in the past by several airlines operating mainline jet aircraft.

operated

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpor ...

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 ...

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 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 ...

and

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 ...

jetliner flights to Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Birmingham, AL and other cities including one stop, no change of plane, direct service to New York City via Newark Airport. Delta operated mainline jet service into Monroe for many years.

Southern Airways Southern Airways was a regional airline (known at the time as a "local-service air carrier" as designated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with No ...

served Monroe with

Douglas DC-9-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast narrow-body aircraft, 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 McDo ...

jet flights to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Memphis, Chicago, Orlando and other destinations. Southern then merged with

North Central Airlines North Central Airlines was a regional airline in the Midwestern United States. Founded as Wisconsin Central Airlines in 1944 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, the company moved to Madison in 1947. This is also when the "Herman the duck" logo was bor ...

to form

Republic Airlines Republic Airlines was an American airline formed by the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways on July 1, 1979. Their headquarters were at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, in what is now Fort Snelling in unincorporate ...

which in turn continued to serve Monroe. Republic operated

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 ...

jet service nonstop to Memphis and New Orleans with direct, one stop service to Chicago and also direct, no change of plane, two stop service to Atlanta. Republic was subsequently acquired by

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

which in turn then merged with Delta. In addition,

Texas International Airlines Texas International Airlines Inc. was a United States airline, known from 1940 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982, when it merged with Continental Airlines. ...

(formerly known as

Trans-Texas Airways Trans-Texas may refer to: * Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), a transportation network in the planning and early construction stages in the U.S. state of Texas * Trans-Texas Airways, a former a United States airline, known as Texas International Texa ...

, TTa) operated

Convair 600 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

turboprop service to Houston, Beaumont/Port Arthur, TX and other destinations. Several regional and commuter airlines served Monroe in the past as well including

Royale Airlines Royale Airlines was a regional airline with headquarters on the grounds of Shreveport Regional Airport (SHV) in Shreveport, Louisiana. Operations Royale operated scheduled passenger flights in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Florid ...

which was based in nearby

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

and operated hubs at Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and New Orleans International Airport (MSY). Royale operated

Grumman Gulfstream I The Grumman Gulfstream I (company designation G-159) is a twin-turboprop business aircraft. It first flew on August 14, 1958. Design and development After first rejecting an idea to develop the Grumman Widgeon as an executive transport, the comp ...

Beechcraft C99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier Be ...

and

Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max Ho ...

turboprop aircraft from the airport with nonstop service to Alexandria, LA; Baton Rouge, LA; Memphis, TN; New Orleans, LA and Shreveport, LA as well as one stop, direct service to Houston, TX. L'Express Airlines, another Louisiana-based air carrier, operated

Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general aviati ...

turboprop aircraft with nonstop flights to its hub in New Orleans, LA.

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 ...

, which was operated by

Express Airlines I 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 Chap ...

on behalf of

, flew

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different o ...

and

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

BAe Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin- turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...

turboprops to Memphis. Currently, all

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 ...

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...

and

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 ...

passenger flights to and from Monroe are operated either with

Canadair CRJ The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...

or with

Embraer ERJ The Embraer ERJ family (for Embraer Regional Jet, model names EMB-135, EMB-140 and EMB-145) are regional jets designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The family includes the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passenge ...

regional jet aircraft.

Facilities and aircraft

Monroe Regional Airport covers an area of 2,660

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 (1,076 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 79 feet (24 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 three

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: 4/22 is 7,505 by 150 feet (2,288 x 46 m); 14/32 is 4,999 by 150 feet (1,524 x 46 m); 18/36 is 5,001 by 150 feet (1,524 x 46 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2015, the airport had 38,828 aircraft operations, an average of 106 per day: 57%

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 ...

, 22%

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 ...

, 20%

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% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 38 aircraft based at this airport: 74% 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 ...

and 26% multi-engine.

Terminal

In 2009 Lincoln Builders of Ruston started construction on a new nearly terminal, which was completed in mid-2011. In October 2011, part one of a two phase passenger terminal project was completed. The original terminal was demolished and a new passenger terminal was constructed to include a new baggage claim and car rental facility. The new terminal is located adjacent to the site of the original facility and features new ticket counters, a cocktail lounge and a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The new terminal has six gates with four of these gates being equipped with

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

Airlines and destinations

The following

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

s offer scheduled passenger service:

Cargo airlines

The following

s offer scheduled cargo service:

Statistics

References

External links

Monroe Regional Airport

* * * {{Monroe, Louisiana Airports in Louisiana Buildings and structures in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Louisiana Transportation in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana