Thief River Falls 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 surfa ...

located three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Thief River Falls, a city in Pennington County,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

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 territori ...

. The airport is owned by the Thief River Falls Regional Airport Authority. It is mostly used for

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 ...

but is also served by one commercial airline subsidized by the

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 ...

program. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023 categorized it as a '' non-primary commercial service'' airport based on enplanements in 2018 (between 2,500 and 10,000 per year).

Facilities and aircraft

Thief River Falls Regional Airport covers an area of 916 acres (371 ha) 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 1,119 feet (341 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. 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 ...

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, concre ...

s: 13/31 is 6,504 by 150 feet (1,982 x 46 m) and 4/22 is 4,997 by 75 feet (1,523 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2018, the airport had 32,268 aircraft operations, an average of 88 per day: 93%

, 6% air taxi and 1% scheduled commercial. In January 2020, 23 aircraft were based at this airport: 18 single-engine, 2 multi-engine and 3 jet.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2001-10642
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

: *
Order 2005-6-13 (June 15, 2005)
selecting Mesaba Aviation, Inc. d/b/a Northwest Airlink, an affiliate of Northwest Airlines, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) for the two-year period beginning June 1, 2005, at an annual subsidy of $777,709 for Thief River Falls and a combined annual subsidy of $2,160,770 for Fort Dodge and Mason City. *
Order 2007-6-3 (June 6, 2007)
re-selecting Mesaba Aviation Inc., d/b/a Northwest Airlink, to continue to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Fort Dodge and Mason City, Iowa, and Thief River Falls, Minnesota, for the two-year period beginning June 1, 2007. Service will consist of 18 round trips per week at Fort Dodge and Mason City, routed Fort Dodge-Mason City-Minneapolis/St. Paul, at the combined annual subsidy rate of $21,113,865. Service at Thief River Falls will consist of 12 one-stop round trips per week to Minneapolis/St. Paul at the annual subsidy rate of $1,065,639. All service will be provided with 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft as Northwest Airlink. *
Order 2009-4-20 (April 28, 2009)
re-selecting Mesaba Aviation, Inc., d/b/a Delta Connection, to continue providing subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Fort Dodge and Mason City, IA, and Thief River Falls, MN, for the two-year period beginning June 1, 2009, at the annual subsidy rates of $2,225,213 for Fort Dodge and Mason City, and $1,230,322 for Thief River Falls. *
Order 2011-11-30 (November 25, 2011)
selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide essential air service (EAS) at six communities at the following annual subsidy rates: Brainerd, Minnesota, $959,865; Fort Dodge, $1,798,693; Iron Mountain, $1,707,841; Mason City, $1,174,468; Thief River Falls, Minnesota, $1,881,815; and Watertown, $1,710,324, for the two-year period beginning when Great Lakes inaugurates full EAS at all six communities *
Order 2012-6-23 (June 26, 2012)
establishing the effective period for the Essential Air Service (EAS) contracts awarded to Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., by Order 2011-11-30. ... The contracts will thus expire at the end of the 24-month period thereafter: May 31, 2014. *
Order 2014-4-17 (April 18, 2014)
reselecting Great Lakes Aviation to provide EAS at Thief River Falls, Minnesota, using 19 (reconfigured to 9) passenger Beech1900D aircraft with non-stop service to Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport (Minneapolis) for 2 round trips each weekday and weekend (12 total per week), for the two-year term from June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2016, for an annual subsidy of $2,428,750.

External links

Thief River Falls Regional Airport
at City of Thief River Falls website * from

Minnesota DOT The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state ...

Airport Directory
Aerial image as of April 1991
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 pro ...

'' * {{authority control Airports in Minnesota Essential Air Service Buildings and structures in Pennington County, Minnesota Transportation in Pennington County, Minnesota Thief River Falls, Minnesota