Oneida County Airport was a public

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 ...

in Whitestown in Oneida County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, northwest of downtown Utica. The airport covered and had 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. Oneida County closed the airport in January 2007 and transferred operations to

Griffiss International Airport Griffiss International Airport is a public airport located east of the central business district of Rome, a city in Oneida County, New York, United States. This airport is publicly owned by County of Oneida. It is located on the former site o ...

, (formerly

Griffiss Air Force Base Griffiss Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force installation in the northeastern United States, located in Central New York state at Rome, about northwest of Utica. Missions included fighter interceptors, electronic research, i ...

) about to the north in

Rome, New York Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the Central New York, central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Ro ...

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 boarded 2,122 passengers 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 ...

2004 and 1,951 in 2005. The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011 classified 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 ...

'' airport.FAA National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems: 2007-2011
/ref>

History

In the 1940s, Utica Municipal Airport was a sod field (no paved runways) at ; Oneida County Airport may not have opened until after 1950. In the 1960s,

Mohawk Airlines Mohawk Airlines was a regional passenger airline operating in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, mainly in New York and Pennsylvania, from the mid-1940s until its acquisition by Allegheny Airlines in 1972. At its height, it employe ...

stopped at Utica, and

Empire Airlines Empire Airlines is a passenger and cargo airline based in Hayden, Idaho, near Coeur d'Alene. It operates over 120 scheduled cargo flights a day in 18 US states and Canada. Empire also started passenger service within Hawaii, under the name "Oh ...

in the 1980s; the first jets were Mohawk BAC 111s in 1965. Both airlines would become part of

USAir US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon b ...

, which had a presence at UCA until 1995 when USAir ended jet flights and closed its maintenance base and reservations center. UCA had no airline service after

Continental Connection Continental Connection was a brand name under which several commuter airline carriers and their holding companies operated services marketed exclusively by Continental Airlines. As such, all Continental Connection banner carrier services were oper ...

carrier

CommutAir CommuteAir, operating as United Express, is a U.S. regional airline founded in 1989. Today, CommuteAir operates more than 1600 weekly flights to over 75 U.S. destinations and 3 in Mexico, with Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft, from its bases at Denver, ...

left on June 30, 2002. In its final years, UCA flights had been under the EAS program; declining ridership led the required subsidy to breach the $200 per passenger statutory cap. Service shifted to nearby

when Oneida closed. The former airport site was purchased from Oneida County by

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

and is now the home of the New York State Preparedness Training Center (SPTC).

References

External links

Griffo Names Panel to Outline Future For Oneida County Airport
2005-04-07 * Defunct airports in New York (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Oneida County, New York Former Essential Air Service airports {{NewYork-struct-stub