Reedley Municipal Airport , sometimes referred to in shorthand but not officially as RMA, is 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 surfa ...

located four miles (6.4 km) north of Reedley, serving southeast

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...

and northeast

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History of Operations

Great Western Airport

In 1946, the Reedley Flight Club created the Great Western Airport north of Reedley and southwest of Mount Campbell, as a private recreational facility. Since the early 1950's the Great Western Airport had been leased out for crop dusting operations under the name Great Western Aeronautics. Great Western Elementary School, named after the airport, was built south of the facility, it is now a part of Kings Canyon Unified School District.

Reedley Municipal Airport

In April 1975, the City of Reedley proposed the establishment of Reedley Municipal Airport on the site of what had previously been the Great Western Airport. In their proposal, they noted that Great Western Airport was substandard for significant aviation use, and so after the City's acquisition of the landing strip, significant renovation would be needed. At the time, the area was unincorporated, and within the proposal, the City requested to incorporate the land the airport sits on into the city itself, creating a legal exclave north of the City. In 2018, the Sustainable Aviation Project delivered four electric propulsion aircraft to Reedley Municipal Airport. Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba gave a presentation to the

Economic Development Corporation An economic development corporation ("EDC") is an organization common in the United States, usually a 501(c)(3) non-profit, whose mission is to promote economic development within a specific geographical area. These organizations are complementary ...

, proposing Reedley as an ideal place to expand sustainable aviation technology and careers, to take advantage of Reedley's location near Fresno, and to combat Reedley's growing 33% unemployment rate. On August 7, 2020, Reedley Municipal Airport was the base of operations for the Giumarra Companies' test flight shipment of peaches to supply Gelson's Markets, a Southern California-based grocery retailer. The

Cessna aircraft Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing ...

used for the test flew one hour from RMA to

Whiteman Airport Whiteman Airport (previously known as Whiteman Air Park) is a general aviation airport in the northeastern San Fernando Valley community of Pacoima, in the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The airport was founded as Whiteman Air ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. This delivery method was the first of its kind for Gelson's and the Giumarra Companies, when the peaches were sold at the retailer, they marketed them with information regarding the shipment, and the resulting freshness of the fruit. The test flight was considered a success, with Rob McDougall, CEO of Gelson's referring to it as "cutting edge."

Facilities and aircraft

Reedley Municipal Airport covers an area of 138 acres (56 ha) which contains one asphalt paved runway (15/33) measuring 3,300 x 60 ft (1,006 x 18 m). There are 21 single-engine aircraft based at Reedley Municipal Airport, and during the 12-month period ending on 30 January 2020, the airport logged 33,000 operations.

References

External links

{{US-airport-minor, O32 Airports in Fresno County, California