New Century AirCenter , formerly known as Naval Air Station Olathe, Flatley Field and Johnson County Industrial Airport, is a joint civil-military

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 ...

airport located four miles (6 km) southwest of the

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 ...

of Olathe, a city in Johnson County,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

United States 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 ...

., effective March 26, 2020 Measured by number of aircraft operations, the facility was the second-busiest airport in the state of Kansas in 2019. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programm ...

for the

FAA 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 ...

and

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

, New Century AirCenter is assigned IXD by the FAA and JCI by the IATA (which assigned IXD to Bamrauli Airport in

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

). The airport's

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

identifier is KIXD. The airport’s codes were derived from its name of Johnson County Industrial Airport. The county originally sought the “IND” designation for its “industrial” name but that identifier went to

Indianapolis International Airport Indianapolis International Airport is an international airport located seven miles (11 km) southwest of downtown Indianapolis in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority. The ...

. The county then sought an “IJC” code based on the Johnson County name but that was rejected as too similar to the OJC code of the neighboring

Johnson County Executive Airport Johnson County Executive Airport is a public airport located four miles (6 km) southeast of the central business district (CBD) of Olathe, a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. Measured by number of aircraft operations, the fa ...

(which was previously a naval auxiliary landing field, or NALF, under the control of

Naval Air Station Olathe Naval Air Station Olathe is a former United States Navy base located in Gardner, Kansas. On its grounds at one point was Olathe Air Force Station. After it was closed, it was redeveloped into New Century AirCenter. History Navy use The base o ...

). As a civilian facility, the airport was assigned the closest available industrial code "IXD." The previous FAA code for Naval Air Station Olathe was NUU and the ICAO code KNUU.

History

Military use

With the departure of Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve flying units, the sole remaining military aviation presence at the airfield is the

U.S. Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

's Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, flying the

CH-47 Chinook The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Piasecki Helicopter, Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems#Background, Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is a ...

Civil use

The airport was acquired by Johnson County in 1973 and renamed Johnson County Industrial Airport to reflect a new mission of being an industrial park (including the Fred Allenbrand Criminal Justice Complex for Johnson County). On September 28, 1994 the name was changed to New Century AirCenter so as not to minimize its aviation component. In 1995, the

Base Realignment and Closure Commission Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...

(BRAC) voted to close Naval Air Reserve Center (NAVAIRESCEN) Olathe and consolidate its units and functions at other Naval Air Reserve activities, with all Navy activities ceasing in 1996. The base was featured in a segment on the

A&E Network A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, television drama, dramas, and ...

entitled “Haunted America” in which it is claimed the base is the site of

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

activity after a Navy pilot crashed into an aircraft hangar next to the airport control tower in the 1950s. According to the report: security guards hear voices, whistles, footsteps on the floor and on overhead catwalks. Locks refuse to stay locked and doors open and close without wind or human intervention and an occasional apparition makes an appearance.

Facilities and aircraft

New Century Aircenter Airport covers an area of which contains 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 concrete, as ...

s: * Runway 4/22: 5,130 x 100 ft (1,564 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt * Runway 18/36: 7,339 x 150 ft (2,237 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt For the twelve-month period ending July 31, 2019, the airport had 53,678 aircraft operations, an average of 147 per day: 91%

, 5%

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 ...

, 4% military, and less than 1% commercial. In March 2020, there were 47 aircraft based at this airport: 23 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 ...

, 7 1 jet, and 16 military.

Business park

After the Johnson County Airport Commission took control of the property, it decided to build a business park on some of the land. Clients include Altiras Chemical LLC, CFS Sauer Foods Inc., IFF Nutrition and Health, deElliotte Company Inc., Steel and Pipe Supply Company Inc., Cedar Creek LLC, Wausau Supply and JBS Swift. The park even has its own railway, the

New Century AirCenter Railroad New Century AirCenter Railroad (JCAX) provides rail switching services within the New Century AirCenter business park in Johnson County, Kansas. Clients include Altiras Chemical LLC, CFS Sauer Foods Inc., IFF Nutrition and Health, deElliotte Co ...

, to supply switching services between the businesses and the connecting rail carrier, the

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

References

External links

* at the Johnson County website * ** FltPlan.co
Airport, Runway,& Weather Info
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Century Aircenter Airports in Kansas Buildings and structures in Johnson County, Kansas