![Tri-Cities Airport at Night (May 31, 2016)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Tri-Cities_Airport_at_Night_%28May_31%2C_2016%29.jpg)
Tri-Cities Airport (originally Pasco Airport) is a public airport in the
northwest 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 ...
in
Franklin County, Washington
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 96,749. The county seat and largest city is Pasco. The county was formed out of Whitman County on November 28, 1883, and is named ...
. Located northwest of
Pasco, it serves the
Tri-Cities metropolitan area in southeast
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 ...
, and is the third largest commercial
airport in the state. The facility has three runways and covers .
History
The Tri-Cities Airport (originally Pasco Airport) was the site of the first airmail contract flight between
Elko, Nevada, and
Pasco, Washington
Pasco ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 59,781 at the 2010 census, and 75,432 as of the July 1, 2019 Census Bureau estimate.
Pasco is one of three cities (the others b ...
, made by
Varney Airlines, (later
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. ) in 1926. The airport was relocated to its present site and became known as the Franklin County Airport; the
U.S. Navy built
Naval Air Station Pasco during
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 ...
. After the war, the Navy sold the field to the city of Pasco, but retained training privileges. Several Navy aircraft, especially the
P-3 Orion, used the field for landing and take-off training. The Port of Pasco then took ownership in 1963 and opened doors to a new terminal building in 1966.
In 1955, the old administration building became the home of the newly established
Columbia Basin College
Columbia Basin College (CBC) is a public community college in Pasco, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The college offers English as a second language and General Educational Development (GED) ...
, which it remained until the current facility near
Interstate 182 was built in 1966. The building later was leased to the Pasco School District #1, for use as Pasco Alternative High School (now
New Horizons High School) until it was destroyed by fire in the mid-1980s. The new school is now sited near Columbia Basin College.
Pasco has had jet flights on several airlines, including Air West/
Hughes Airwest
Hughes Airwest was a regional airline in the western United States, backed by Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation. Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carrier was owned by Nick Bez. Hughes Airwest flew routes in the wes ...
with Douglas DC-9s,
Cascade Airways
Cascade Airways was an airline in the northwest United States which flew primarily regional air routes out of Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1969, it operated for 17 years and shut down in 1986. Its IATA code (CZ) was lat ...
with BAC One-Elevens,
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 ...
with Boeing 727-200s and 737-300s,
Western Airlines
Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...
with Boeing 727-200s, 737-200s, and 737-300s,
Frontier Airlines with 737-200s,
Pacific Southwest Airlines
Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) was a regional U.S. airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1998. It was the first large discount airline in the United States. PSA called itself "The World's Friendliest Airl ...
(PSA) with BAe 146-200s,
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the num ...
with Boeing 727s,
Horizon Air
Horizon Air Industries, Inc., operating as Horizon Air, is an American regional airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. Horizon Air and its sister carrier Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, and all Horizon-opera ...
with Fokker F-28s, and
West Coast Airlines with DC-9s.
Currently, scheduled passenger flights are mostly regional jet and
turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
, although Allegiant Air operates Airbus A319s/320s, Delta operates Airbus A319s/320s and Boeing 717s, and Avelo operates Boeing 737s.
Horizon Air
Horizon Air Industries, Inc., operating as Horizon Air, is an American regional airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. Horizon Air and its sister carrier Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, and all Horizon-opera ...
, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, currently uses a mix of
Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft, and E-175 jets at Tri-Cities, but has announced plans to transition to all E-175 jets by the end of 2023.
An expansion and remodel project took place in 1986 that included access roads, parking lots, aircraft parking apron and more than doubling the size of the terminal.
In 2003, the airport underwent another expansion and remodel that added an additional to the ticket lobby and boarding area.
In 2014, the Port of Pasco approved a $42 million renovation and expansion, planning to double the size of the terminal. The construction began in August 2014 and finished in January 2017. The first phase of the expansion was completed on September 7, 2015, which included a new west concourse with gates 3, 4 and 5 as well as new car rental and baggage claim areas. The second phase started shortly thereafter, planning to demolish the old boarding area and replace it with a new east concourse to house gates 1 and 2.
On January 27, 2017, the $42 million airport renovation and expansion, which added a new terminal, security area and
baggage handling system was officially opened to the public. The new terminal is intended to meet the needs of the Tri-Cities metropolitan area for the next 20 years, with passenger enplanements/deplanements in 2019 reaching a new high of 870,900.
Current use
The airport's terminal at the south end of the field is the property of the Port of Pasco, at the north end of North 20th Avenue. Firefighting, however, is handled by the City of Pasco. A new fire station has recently been built on the terminal grounds. The old Navy station buildings on the north end of the airport are being used by other firms.
The airport is undergoing a major resurfacing of the runways, funded by the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
.
Major tenants and commercial activity
General and corporate aviation are important to PSC and they have many facilities to accommodate them. The airport has over 120 based aircraft that belong to business and general aviation operators. T-hangars are available on the airport and two FBOs offer fuel and other services, Bergstrom Aircraft Inc. and Tri-Cities Aviation. The airport has two aircraft sales companies on the field: JD Aircraft Sales and Viper Aircraft Corp; both also offer storage.
PSC also has commercial air traffic. The airport is served by the regional affiliates of several major airlines such as Alaska and United. Delta Air Lines, Avelo Airlines and Allegiant Air operate mainline jets at present. Delta Air Lines flies Skywest E175s as well as Airbus A319s/A320s, Avelo Airlines operates Boeing 737s, with Allegiant Air flying Airbus 320s. Alaska Airlines, operated by Horizon Air, currently flies Bombardier Q400 aircraft on some services being replaced with E175s.
Empire Airlines
Empire Airlines is a passenger and cargo airline based in Hayden, Idaho, near Coeur d'Alene. It operates over 120 scheduled cargo flights a day in 18 US states and Canada. Empire also started passenger service within Hawaii, under the name "Oh ...
operates FedEx Feeder also to the airport from Spokane Intl (GEG). The FedEx facility on the field goes through of inbound cargo daily. Empire Airlines usually operates ATR-42s and Cessna 208 Caravans, and also ATR-72s during higher cargo volume periods. The FedEx facility is a major source of revenue for the community and they are planning to expand their facilities at PSC in the near future.
In the year ending December 31, 2018, the airport had 48,211 aircraft operations, average 132 per day: 67%
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 ...
, 19%
air carrier
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...
, 9%
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) ...
, and 5% military. At the time 121 aircraft were based at PSC, 80 single engine, 23 multi engine, 14
jet and 4
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
Statistics
Annual traffic
Top destinations
Airline market share
Accidents and incidents
*On June 20, 1969, a
Beechcraft Model 99 operated by ''Cascade Airways'', bound for
Spokane International Airport
Spokane International Airport is a commercial airport located approximately west-southwest of downtown Spokane, Washington, United States. It is the primary airport serving the Inland Northwest, which consists of 30 counties and includes area ...
, pitched up steeply after takeoff, lost control and crashed. The probable causes were the pitch trim was found in the full nose up position and the captain's seat was unlocked and fully aft. Both occupants died.
*On December 19, 1989, a
British Aerospace Jetstream
The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...
operated by
North Pacific Airlines
North Pacific Airlines (NPA) was a commuter air carrier formed in 1987 which operated scheduled passenger service on behalf United Airlines via a code sharing agreement as a United Express carrier initially from the Seattle–Tacoma International ...
on behalf of
United Express Flight 2415
United Express Flight 2415 was a regularly scheduled flight in the northwest United States from Seattle to Pasco, Washington, operated using a BAe Jetstream 31. Late on Tuesday, December 26, 1989, Flight 2415 crashed while attempting to land a ...
, a domestic scheduled passenger flight inbound from
Yakima Air Terminal
McAllister Field (known for the Yakima Air Terminal) is a public airport three miles south of Yakima, in Yakima County, Washington. Owned by the City of Yakima, it is used for general aviation and commercial air service. Yakima is served by one ...
, crashed on an
instrument landing system
In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...
(ILS) approach to PSC 400 feet short of runway 21. Ice buildup and an unstabilized approach were the probable causes. All four passengers and two crew were killed.
* On September 20, 2022, a
Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3
The Cessna CitationJet/CJ/M2 (also known as the Model 525) are a series of light business jets built by Cessna, and are part of the Citation family.
Launched in October 1989, the first flight of the Model 525 was on April 29, 1991. Federal Avi ...
owned and operated by Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute inbound from
Chehalis, WA with 10 people aboard caught fire after landing on runway 03L. As of November 25, 2022, the accident is under investigation, but preliminary information indicates that the plane caught fire after a
gear-up landing
A belly landing or gear-up landing occurs when an aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device. Normally the term ''gear-up landing'' refers to incidents in which the pilot ...
. All 10 people evacuated and no injuries were reported, but the plane was written off.
References
External links
*
*
WSDOT
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. Establi ...
Pilot's Guide
Tri-Cities* WSDOT Economic Impacts
Tri-Cities Airport*
*
{{Airports in Washington
Airports in Washington (state)
Tri-Cities, Washington
Pasco, Washington
Transportation buildings and structures in Franklin County, Washington
Airports established in 1926
1926 establishments in Washington (state)