Stillwater Regional Airport is in

Payne County Payne County is located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 77,350. Its county seat is Stillwater. The county was created in 1890 as part of Oklahoma Territory and is named for Capt. David L. Payne, a lead ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, United States, three miles (4.8 km) northwest of Stillwater.

History

After

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 opposin ...

the airfield was one of six locations in the nation that stored surplus military aircraft; about 475 were flown to the airport starting in 1945. In 1946

Paul Mantz Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races. Early years Ma ...

bought them all, keeping 12 for use as stunt planes and camera ships and selling the rest for scrap.FAA Inspector Sees Stories in Old Planes
Ponca City News, accessed 30 December 2010 One of the aircraft at Stillwater – purchased by Mantz – was

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

41-24577 "Hells Angels," the first B-17 to complete 25 missions (even before the '' Memphis Belle'').http://www.aerovintage.com/b17news6.htm Aerovintage.com, accessed 30 December 2010

Historical airline service

Central Airlines Central Airlines was a passenger airline (the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) called it a "local service" air carrier) in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to oper ...

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

s landed at Stillwater beginning in 1953 with flights to Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Central merged with the original

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

in 1967, and service was then provided with flights between Kansas City and Dallas/Fort Worth that stopped at Stillwater and many other points. Frontier upgraded service using the

Convair 580 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

aircraft until flights ended in late 1975. Stillwater then went without commercial air service until 1980.

Metro Airlines Metro Airlines, originally Houston Metro Airlines, was a commuter airline that was originally headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States,. Metro subsequently moved its headquarters to north Texas. The airline had an operational base located ...

began serving Stillwater in 1980 with flights to Oklahoma City using

de Havilland Canada 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 ...

s. Service continued until 1985 when Exec Express, Inc. took over servicing Stillwater with flights to Tulsa, using

Piper PA-31 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 ...

commuter planes. Stillwater was the home for Exec Express, but their service was short-lived, ending within one year as the airline focused on providing

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

to the nearby communities of Enid and Ponca City, Oklahoma. Stillwater then went without commercial air service.Airline timetables and the Official Airline Guide After thirty years with no airline flights, local efforts landed

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 ...

regional partner Envoy Air to Stillwater, operating as

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

. Service began on August 23, 2016, using Embraer-145 regional jets nonstop to

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Air ...

. Two daily flights are operated, with a third flight during busier periods. Many

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

teams and those who visit the

Cowboys A cowboy is a professional pastoralist or mounted livestock herder, usually from the Americas or Australia. Cowboy(s) or The Cowboy(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Cowboy'' (1958 film), starring Glenn Ford * ''Cowboy'' (1966 film), ...

fly into Stillwater on small chartered planes. The Cowboy football team and opponents also frequently fly in and out of the airport.

Facilities

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 § Vert ...

of 1,000 feet (305 m). It has 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: 17/35 is 7,401 by 100 feet (2,256 x 30 m)

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

; 4/22 is 5,002 by 75 feet (1,525 x 23 m)

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 ...

. In the year ending March 31, 2022 the airport had 81,858 aircraft operations, an average of 224 per day: 91%

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 ...

, 6% military, 3%

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 less than 1% commercial airline. In February 2023, there were 90 aircraft based at this airport: 85 single-engine and 5 multi-engine. The airport is home to the Oklahoma State University Flight Center, which trains students majoring or minoring in Aerospace Administration and Operations with a concentration in professional pilot. Their fleet consists of Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, a Cessna 182RG, Cirrus SR-20s, and Piper PA-44s. The airport is home to the Stillwater Airport Memorial Museum.http://www.visitstillwater.org/attractions/museums-and-art/m.businessdirectory/34/view/599 VisitStillwater.org, accessed 13 January 2014

Airline and destination

Statistics

References

External links

Stillwater Regional Airport

Stillwater Flight Center
the

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

(FBO)
Stillwater Composite Squadron Civil Air Patrol
the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

Unit on the airport * * {{Authority control Airports in Oklahoma Searcy Field, OK Buildings and structures in Payne County, Oklahoma