Appleton International Airport , formerly Outagamie County Regional Airport, is an airport located in Greenville,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, United States, west of Appleton. It is included in 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 ...

(FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2023–2027. Along with Madison’s Dane County Regional Airport, it is one of two airports in the State of Wisconsin categorized as a small hub. The airport covers 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 § Ver ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. It is the third busiest of eight commercial airports in Wisconsin in terms of passengers served. In 2016 the airport contributed $676 million to the Northeastern Wisconsin economy. In May 2018, Appleton International Airport was the fourth fastest growing airport in the US. It is the main base of privately owned regional airline

Air Wisconsin Air Wisconsin Airlines is a regional airline based at Appleton International Airport in the town of Greenville, Wisconsin near Appleton. Air Wisconsin originally operated as one of the original United Express partners in 1985, and operated ...

and was the original home of Midwest Airlines. Midwest Airlines grew out of Kimberly-Clark subsidiary K-C Aviation, which was sold in 1998 to

Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an American aircraft company and a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics. Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 ...

, which retains a major facility at the airport, focusing on maintenance and interior completions for the companies

G600 G600 may refer to: * Gulfstream G600 The Gulfstream G400, G500, and G600 (GVII) are twin-engine business jets designed and produced by Gulfstream Aerospace. The aircraft are designated ''Gulfstream GVII-G500'' and ''GVII-G600'' in their type ...

, G650, and

G700 G700 may refer to: * Gulfstream G700, a jet aircraft * Ricoh G700, a digital compact camera * Sony Ericsson G700 The following is a list of products manufactured under the Sony Ericsson brand. Most of the models have been released under multiple ...

products. The airport attracts people heading back and forth between the EAA's

AirVenture EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsi ...

, Air Academy and other programs in nearby Oshkosh. Starting in 2017, the airport began to offer camping for AirVenture. Appleton International is also used for people heading to events at

Lambeau Field Lambeau Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home field of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), it opened in 1957 as City Stadium, replacing ...

in nearby Green Bay, most popularly Green Bay Packers games.

History

The airport opened with the runway 12/30 around 1965. In the 1920s, Appleton's airport was George A. Whiting Field, three miles (5 km) south of town. When Northwest was awarded Contract Airmail Route No. 9 in 1926, Whiting Field became one of the original six airports in the airline's route network. Passenger service on Northwest began in 1927 but was short-lived. By 1936 the municipal airport had opened northeast of town on the south side of

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

, southeast of the intersection (). At its closing, it had a paved runway; North Central DC-3s landed there after 1958–59. Construction of the current facility began in 1963; the field was dedicated on August 22, 1965, along with

, which started operations out of the airport the next day.

Recent years

Since 2009, the airport has been completing a number of renovation projects under a PFC plan. Parts of the project already completed include rehabilitating runway 12/30 and taxiway B as well as expanding taxiway N and installing runway guard lights throughout the field. In January 2017, a new rental car facility opened across from the terminal building. In December 2017, the airport started a project to remodel the terminal with the addition of meeting space, a brand new restaurant with airfield views, remodeled/expanded security area, and remodeled check-in area. Furthermore the airport is currently studying the construction of adding additional gates either through expanding the airport's current concourse or building a second concourse. In 2011, the airport was one of ten nationwide airports selected to participate in an FAA airport sustainability project with a goal to make the airport 70% more energy efficient by 2030. In 2017, the airport constructed solar

carport A carport is a covered structure used to offer limited protection to vehicles, primarily cars, from rain and snow. The structure can either be free standing or attached to a wall. Unlike most structures, a carport does not have four walls, and us ...

s (covered parking structure with solar panels on the roof) in the short-term parking lot. Additional solar carports were constructed and completed in October 2019. The solar carports supplement a system of solar panels installed on the roof of the terminal building which were installed in the early 2010s. The Appleton Flight Center Terminal, which was constructed in 2013, is a LEED-certified facility and features zero VOC finishes, a roof-mounted 26 kW photovoltaic system, a ground source heat pump, in-floor radiant conditioning, and a rainwater collection system. The terminal was the nation’s first airport terminal to achieve a

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

energy designation, receiving a Class D Net Zero Energy Building rating and is widely considered to be a leader in airport energy sustainability. In the late 2010s, the airport saw a period of mass growth. In May 2018 a report by

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Tele ...

revealed that Appleton International Airport was the fourth fastest-growing airport in the US, with a 26.8% increase in passengers compared to two years prior. This expansion was the result of the introduction 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 ...

and an increase in flights from

flying under the

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 ...

brand. New routes like

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and Punta Gorda, an upgrade in the size of aircraft being utilized by airlines, and cheaper airfare also contributed towards the large growth. The Outagamie County Board rejected a proposal in 1983 to change the name to "Fox Cities Metro Airport," and three more name change efforts failed between 2003 and 2011. In February 2014, the county board voted to rename the airport "Appleton International Airport." The new name was officially implemented in 2015 on August 21, during the

golden anniversary A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...

celebration of the airport. In 2019, the airport handled just over 762,000 passengers, the most in its history. On August 10, 2021,

Allegiant Air Allegiant Air (usually shortened to Allegiant) is an ultra low-cost U.S. carrier that operates scheduled and charter flights. It is a major air carrier, the fourteenth-largest commercial airline in North America. Allegiant was founded in 1 ...

announced that they would base

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

aircraft at the airport beginning March 2, 2022. They will also open a crew/maintenance base to support these aircraft. In December 2022, there were 74 aircraft based at this airport: 50 single-engine, 17 multi-engine and 7 jets.

Facilities

Runways

Appleton International Airport Tower and Gulfstream Hangar

Appleton International Airport has 2 runways that are perpendicular to one another forming an X shape. All taxiways are equipped with LED taxiway edge lighting and all entrances to runways have runway guard lights.

Terminal

The

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...

was built in 1974, with expansions in 1983, 1990, and 1998. The airport added a new ground-level seven-gate concourse in 2000 and renovated the existing passenger terminal, which was designed by architect Paul W. Powers. The architectural theme was representative of the river flowing through the historic paper manufacturing region. The

underwent its most extensive renovation and expansion to date in 2001. The new gate area included more spacious seating areas with natural lighting, in floor heating, new passenger paging system, and five aircraft boarding bridges; a 6th bridge for larger planes was added later. It cost $10.7 million and was designed by Mead & Hunt, Inc. The airport's main entrance at CTH CA features a complete reproduction of the Apollo 11 statue located in the Moon Tree Garden of the

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus to ...

. It was donated to the airport in 2020 by local car salesmen giant John Bergstrom. The terminal has eight gates currently in use: seven with

jet bridges 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, ...

–which are numbered 3 through 7, 7b, and 8–and one for tarmac entry, numbered 8b. Gates 1 and 2 are not frequently used due to their close proximity to the main terminal building and the resulting difficulty maneuvering aircraft in those tight spaces. The layout can best be explained by looking at the terminal map.

Ground transportation

Appleton International Airport is located west of

Interstate 41 Interstate 41 (I-41) is a north–south Interstate Highway connecting the interchange of I-94 and U.S. Route 41 (US 41), located south of the Wisconsin–Illinois border at the end of the Tri-State Tollway in metropolitan C ...

and north of US Highway 10. Valley Transit bus service does not have a stop servicing the airport, but there are stops nearby.

Vehicle for hire A vehicle for hire is a vehicle providing private transport or shared transport for a fee, in which passengers are generally free to choose their points or approximate points of origin and destination, unlike public transport, and which th ...

companies including

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...

Lyft Lyft, Inc. offers mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dyn ...

, and

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...

s are allowed to pick up and drop off passengers on airport property. Six car rental companies offer service at the airport out of a

consolidated rental car facility A consolidated rental car facility (CRCF) or consolidated rental car center (CONRAC) is a complex that hosts numerous car rental agencies, typically found at airports in the United States. The largest incentive for building consolidated faciliti ...

across from the terminal.

Other

The airport has an FBO, Appleton Flight Center, which offers AvGas and Jet Fuel, as well as a number of other resources such as a crew car and WiFi. ATW holds the Old Glory Honor Flights for the Northeast Wisconsin area. These flights bring veterans from

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 opposing ...

and the

Korean war , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

to see their memorials in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. The airport has hosted many community events to raise money for these flights, including a plane pull event in September 2017. The flights are flown by Sun Country Airlines. The airport, along with

, hosts a bi-annual event called "Wings for Autism". The event allows children on the

autism spectrum The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

, along with their parents, to go through a rehearsal flight in which they practice checking in for their flight, going through

airport security Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats. Aviation security is a combination of measures and hum ...

, boarding their flight, and collecting checked baggage. The event is sponsored by many local organizations and companies. It is one of the largest versions of the event held nationally. Every April, the airport celebrates autism awareness month by lighting the terminal blue. The airport is home to the Fox Cities Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, which houses a fleet of Cessna 182s at the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo operations

Statistics

Carrier shares

Top destinations

Annual traffic

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2021, the airport has 117 airport operations per day, or about 43,000 per year. This includes 60%

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 ...

, including 37% transient and 23% local; 28%

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) ...

; 11%

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

; and <1%

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 ...

. For the same time period, 74 aircraft are based on the field: 50 single-engine and 17 multi-engine

airplanes An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectr ...

as well as 7 jet airplanes.

Accidents and incidents

* On , Air Wisconsin Flight 671, a

DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

, collided 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 bo ...

Flight 290 over

Lake Winnebago Lake Winnebago ( mez, Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, oj, Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, one, kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entire ...

while on approach to the airport; both planes crashed into the lake and sank, resulting in 13 fatalities. *On February 14, 2011, a

Gulfstream G550 The Gulfstream G550 is a business jet aircraft produced by General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace unit in Savannah, Georgia, US. The certification designation is GV-SP. A version with reduced fuel capacity was marketed as the G500. Gulfstream ...

overran runway 30 at Appleton after the. aircraft had reportedly lost its

hydraulic system Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid coun ...

. The aircraft was operating a test flight after a new interior was installed and before being delivered to a new owner. All three people onboard survived. * On , a chartered

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 world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...

(N802NW) carrying an NFL team, the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, slid off a taxiway after landing, stranding the team on board for four hours before they were rescued using fire ladders. *On August 13, 2022, a Delta Air Lines

Boeing 717 The Boeing 717 is an American five-abreast single-aisle airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The twin-engine airliner was developed for the 100-seat market and originally marketed by McDonnell Douglas as the MD-95. It was a shor ...

encountered a bird strike on takeoff from Appleton.

References

External links

* * from the Wisconsin DOT Airport Directory * *
{{Fox Cities, Wisconsin Airports in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Outagamie County, Wisconsin Transportation in Outagamie County, Wisconsin 1965 establishments in Wisconsin