Montgomery Regional Airport (Dannelly Field) is a civil-military
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 ...
seven miles southwest of
Montgomery, the capital of
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
.
Owned by the Montgomery Airport Authority, it is used for
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 ...
and
military aviation
Military aviation comprises military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift ( air cargo) capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a war the ...
,
and sees two airlines.
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 2017–2021
categorized it as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.
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 the airport had 157,958 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 ...
2013, a decrease from 182,313 in 2012.
History
Commercial aviation and military aviation have been intertwined in Montgomery. The first commercial air services in Montgomery operated at
Maxwell Field
Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. O ...
, a military facility founded by the
Wright Brothers west of the city. To provide for commercial aviation the City of Montgomery opened its original municipal airport in 1929 east of the city. This facility was later named
Gunter Field
Gunter Annex is a United States Air Force installation located in the North-northeast suburbs of Montgomery, Alabama. The base is named after former Montgomery mayor William Adams Gunter. Until 1992 it was known as Gunter Air Force Base or Gu ...
and was served by a predecessor of
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 ...
.
Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Ea ...
subsequently took over service at Gunter.
In 1940 the
War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* Dep ...
chose Gunter Field for a new pilot training facility. Gunter quickly became congested, Eastern Airlines was forced to move temporarily to Maxwell, and the city purchased a tract southwest of downtown on
US 80
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to replace Gunter for civilian aviation. Separately, the
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 ...
identified a need for seven auxiliary fields in the vicinity of Gunter and the city and USAAF agreed that the city's newly purchased site would also serve as Gunter's auxiliary field #6. It opened in 1943 and was named for
ENS Clarence Moore Dannelly Jr., USN, a Navy pilot killed in a 1940 training accident and considered to be the first casualty of World War II from Montgomery. The old Army Air Forces hangars are now part of the Montgomery Aviation complex. The original three runways and their original dimensions were:
* 3/21: . Still exists.
* 9/27: . Extended to in 1955. Extended to in 1963. Redesignated 10/28 in 1992.
* 15/33: . Closed in 1981. Some portions remain as taxiway and apron.
When Dannelly Field opened, Eastern moved its operations there. The city took title to Dannelly in 1946, although joint commercial and military use continued, and erected a permanent passenger terminal and control tower north of Runway 9/27 in 1955. While Runway 9/27 was being rebuilt in 1963, and again in 1970, commercial flights were temporarily diverted to
Maxwell AFB
Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. O ...
.
Military use
The
Alabama Air National Guard
The Alabama Air National Guard (AL ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Alabama, United States of America. It is, along with the Alabama Army National Guard, an element of the Alabama National Guard.
As state militia units, the units in ...
's
187th Fighter Wing (187 FW), based on the west side of the airport at
Montgomery Air National Guard Base
Montgomery Air National Guard Base is the home base of the Alabama Air National Guard 187th Fighter Wing.
History
The base has previously been known as Gunter Army Airfield Auxiliary #6 and is still sometimes known as Dannelly Field.
The roots ...
, operates a squadron of
F-16C
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successf ...
aircraft. The 187th Fighter Wing evolved from the 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron that began operating at Dannelly Field in 1953. During its history, the 187th and its predecessor have based several types of aircraft at Montgomery, including the
RF-51 Mustang,
RF-80 Shooting Star,
RF-84 Thunderflash
The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak was an American swept-wing turbojet fighter-bomber. While an evolutionary development of the straight-wing F-84 Thunderjet, the F-84F was a new design. The RF-84F Thunderflash was a photo reconnaissance version ...
,
RF-4
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and B ...
Phantom II,
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...
and
C-131 Samaritan
The Convair C-131 Samaritan is an American twin-engined military transport produced from 1954 to 1956 by Convair. It is the military version of the Convair CV-240 family of airliners.Gradidge 1997, p. 20–21.
Design and development
The design ...
.
The
Alabama Army National Guard
The Alabama Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau.
Alabama Army National ...
also has an Army Aviation Support Facility on the south side of the airport. Although primarily oriented to helicopter operations, fixed-wing aircraft can also be accommodated. The 31st Aviation Battalion was established here in 1986 and became the 1st Battalion,
131st Aviation Regiment a year later.
An
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) unit is located at the airport, equipped with multiple fire fighting and rescue vehicles, to augment the airport's civilian ARFF unit.
Facilities
Montgomery Regional Airport covers 1,907
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 (772
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 221 feet (67 m). It has two
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 ...
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. Runway 10/28 is 9,020 by 150 feet (2,749 x 46 m) and had CAT I ILS and approach lights on both ends. Runway 3/21 is 4,011 by 150 feet (1,223 x 46 m). It has one asphalt
helipad
A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft.
While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...
, 100 by 100 feet (30 x 30 m).
The airline terminal has been expanded and modified several times since 1955. A $40 million capital program that finished in November 2006 doubled the size of the terminal, transformed its appearance, and modernized it with second-floor boarding, jetway loading bridges, and a rotunda with a domed ceiling that simulates sunrises, sunsets, and stars at night.
The apron and the main runway and taxiways can accommodate aircraft as large as the Boeing 747 and Antonov 124. Some
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
teams visiting
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
charter larger aircraft into Montgomery.
There are numerous corporate aviation hangars and support facilities. A proposal to extend Runway 3/21 to is under consideration. A new control tower was built in 1996 south of Runway 10/28.
In 2017 the airport had 71,431 aircraft operations, average 199 per day: 48% military, 39%
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 ...
, 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 2% airline. In May 2018, 125 aircraft were based at this airport: 46 military, 52 single-engine, 16 multi-engine, 9 jet, and 2
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 ...
.
Airlines and destinations
Airlines with scheduled nonstop flights to:
Statistics
Top destinations
Other statistics
Former airlines and flights
Past airlines since 1943 have included
Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Ea ...
, Eastern Metro Express, Waterman Airlines,
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 ...
,
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, Minnesota, Fort ...
,
Piedmont Aviation, Sun Airlines, Southeast Commuter Airlines, South Central Air Transport (SCAT),
Air Illinois
Air Illinois was a regional airline based in Carbondale, Illinois, Carbondale, Illinois.
History
Founded in 1970 in Carbondale, Illinois, Carbondale, Illinois, Air Illinois primarily operated small twin turboprop aircraft such as the de Havi ...
, Trans Air Express, Ocean Airways,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
, US Airways Express, and Via Airlines. 50-90 passenger regional jets are now the usual airliners, but in the past airlines such as Delta scheduled the
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 ...
,
MD-80,
737 737 most commonly refers to:
* Boeing 737, an American narrow-body passenger airplane
** Boeing 737 Classic
** Boeing 737 MAX
** Boeing 737 Next Generation
* AD 737, a year in the common era
* 737 BC, a year
* 737 (number), a number
737 may als ...
,
727, and even the
DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company.
After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...
.
Northwest Airlink flew to Memphis until it merged with Delta; Delta retired the route a year and a half after acquiring Northwest. Continental Express flew nonstop to Houston Intercontinental. Past Delta routes include flights to New Orleans, Jackson, Cincinnati and Dallas. Eastern flights were to Atlanta, Birmingham, Dothan, Mobile, and Pensacola. Southern/Republic flights were to Birmingham, Dothan, Panama City, Orlando, Tallahassee, and Memphis.
Prior to the merger with American in October 2015, US Airways Express flew direct to Charlotte three times daily. American Eagle continued the route after the merger.
Via Airlines flew nonstop to Orlando-Sanford from May 2018 to May 2019.
Master plan
The 20-year, $98 million master plan projects enplanements to reach 245,000 a year in 2030. The plan calls for runway 3/21 to be doubled in length to 8,000 ft, and with the extension commercial airlines will be able to use it. The plan also calls for new corporate hangars. Two new airlines and new direct flights are likely to come to the airport by 2019. The plan calls for a redesigned baggage claim which has already been completed, a spruced up terminal area, and new food vendors.
Accidents and incidents
*On February 19, 2021, a military airplane crashed in a wooded area near the airport, killing two people.
Military jet crash near Alabama airport leaves two dead
/ref>
Images
File:Check in counters at MGM.jpg, Check in counters at MGM
File:Gate area at MGM.jpg, MGM gate area
File:MGM_Baggage_Claim.jpg, MGM baggage claim
File:Delta Connection CRJ-200 at MGM Airport.JPG, A Delta Connection CRJ-200
File:Delta_MD-88_at_MGM_Airport.jpg, A Delta MD-88 at Gate 3
File:US Airways Express CRJ-200 at MGM.jpg, A US Airways Express CRJ-200
File:Southwest 737-700 at MGM.jpg, Southwest Airlines 737-700 charter deplaning at MGM Airport
File:Delta_767s_at_MGM.png, Two Delta 767-300s at MGM
References
;Other sources
* Wesley Phillips Newton, "Origins and Early Development of Civil Aviation in Montgomery, 1910-1946," The Alabama Review, January 2004.
External links
*
187th Fighter Wing, Alabama Air National Guard
official website
*
*
{{Authority control
Transportation in Montgomery, Alabama
Buildings and structures in Montgomery, Alabama
Airports in Montgomery County, Alabama