Sierra Blanca Regional Airport is a public use

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 ...

located on the Fort Stanton mesa 15 nautical miles (28 km) northeast 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 ...

Ruidoso Ruidoso is a village in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States, adjacent to the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 8,029 at the 2010 census. The city of Ruidoso Downs and the unincorporated area of Alto are suburbs of Ruidoso, and ...

, a village in Lincoln County,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

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 ...

. It is owned by the Village of Ruidoso. According to the FAA's

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 2009–2013, it is classified 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.

Facilities and aircraft

Sierra Blanca Regional Airport covers an area of 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 6,814 feet (2,077 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. 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 ...

paved

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: 6/24 is 8,120 by 100 feet (2,475 x 30 m) and 12/30 is 6,309 by 75 feet (1,923 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending December 8, 2022, the airport had 14,278 aircraft operations, an average of 39 per day: 68%

, 24%

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 ...

, 7%

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 <1% commercial. At that time there were 7 aircraft based at this airport: 6 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 ...

, and 1 jet.

History

The Sierra Blanca Regional Airport opened on December 11, 1987. It was built to replace the much smaller Ruidoso airport which was located within the city of Ruidoso and had seen many accidents due to its location in a mountain valley. Ruidoso was served by several commuter airlines between 1976 and 2008 with flights to Albuquerque, El Paso, Midland/Odessa, and Dallas/Ft. Worth ( DFW). These carriers used such commuter aircraft as the

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...

Cessna 208 The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...

Caravan, Beechcraft 1300, and the

Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

. Among these airlines were: Roswell Airlines (1976-1978), Airways of New Mexico (1978-1979), Wise Airlines (1984),

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Gr ...

(1987-1990), Air Ruidoso (1987-1989),

Lone Star Airlines Lone Star Airlines was an American regional airline that operated both domestic and international flights. For much of the airline's life its headquarters were located in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas. The airline's largest hub w ...

(1995-1997), Rio Grande Air (2001), and Pacific Wings, dba

New Mexico Airlines New Mexico Airlines was an American commuter airline brand founded by Pacific Air Holdings to operate flights in New Mexico after the airline was awarded an Essential Air Service contract to serve Hobbs and Carlsbad, New Mexico. The airline st ...

(2008). Lone Star Airlines briefly operated a 32-seat

Dornier 328 The Dornier 328 is a turboprop-powered commuter airliner. Initially produced by Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, the firm was acquired in 1996 by Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffe ...

propjet in 1995 with a flight to DFW that stopped in Roswell. In 2005

American Eagle Airlines Envoy Air Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Irving, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Airline ...

announced its intent to serve the airport with nonstop regional jets to DFW on behalf 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 ...

; however, this service did not materialize and the city of Ruidoso later joined into a consortium with other cities in southeastern New Mexico to have American Eagle serve

Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in, and the County seat, seat of, Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Chaves County forms the entirety of the List of micropolitan areas in New Mexico, Roswell micropolitan area. As of ...

via the

Roswell International Air Center Roswell Air Center (Roswell International Air Center; Roswell Industrial Air Center) is an airport south of Roswell, New Mexico, Roswell, in Chaves County, New Mexico, United States. History The airport was Roswell Army Airfield during World ...

(ROW) airport located 70 miles to the east.Timetables from the various airlines that have served Ruidoso, NM

References

External links

Sierra Blanca Regional Airport home page

Aerial photo as of 18 October 1996
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * {{US-airport-ga, SRR, RUI Airports in New Mexico Transportation in Lincoln County, New Mexico Buildings and structures in Lincoln County, New Mexico