Tri-City Airport is a public-use airport 12 miles west of

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

, a city in

Labette County, Kansas Labette County (county code LB) is a county located in Southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 20,184. Its county seat is Oswego, and its most populous city is Parsons. The county was named after LaBette creek, the ...

, United States. It serves Coffeyville, Independence, and Parsons, Kansas. In 1942 it was the Cherryvale Army Air Force Auxiliary Field #9 for the

Independence Army Airfield Independence Army Airfield was a World War II training base of the United States Army Air Forces Central Flying Training Command (CFTC). It is currently the city-owned Independence Municipal Airport. History In January 1941 the Independence ...

; later it was called Pep Field.

Historical airline service

Airline service to the area started in the early 1930s when National Air Transport stopped at Coffeyville on a route between Chicago and Dallas. In 1951

Ozark Airlines Ozark Air Lines was an airline that operated in the United States from 1950 until 1986 when it was purchased by Trans World Airlines (TWA). In 2001, TWA was merged into American Airlines. A smaller regional airline that used the Ozark name ( ...

began a route from Kansas City to Tulsa stopping at Topeka, Coffeyville (McGugin Field), and Bartlesville, OK. Ozark's service to Coffeyville ended in 1954 but the airline continued to serve nearby Pittsburg, Kansas. In 1961,

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 began flying to Tri-City Airport (PPF) on a Kansas City - Parsons - Bartlesville - Oklahoma City route. Central Airlines merged into 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 Frontier

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 ...

s landed at Tri-City until 1977. From 1977 until 1986 PPF was served by

Air Midwest Air Midwest, Inc., was a Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificated air carrier that operated under air carrier certificate number AMWA510A issued on May 15, 1965. It was headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States, and was a sub ...

with 17-seat

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 ...

s to Kansas City and Wichita. Just before PPF service ended in 1986, Air Midwest began a codeshare agreement with

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

and operated as

Eastern Express The Eastern Express ( tr, Doğu Ekspresi) is an overnight passenger train operated by the Turkish State Railways. The train runs from Ankara Railway Station to Kars Railway Station in Kars. The train was the first overnight service east of Ank ...

. PPF has not seen airline flights since 1986.Ozark Airlines, Central Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Air Midwest timetables

Facilities

Tri-City Airport covers at an elevation of 900 feet (274 m). Its single runway, 17/35, is 5,000 by 75 feet (1,524 x 23 m). In the year ending July 3, 2008 the airport had 6,000 aircraft operations, average 16 per day: 92%

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 ...

, 5%

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 3% military. 15 aircraft were then based at this airport: 87% single-engine and 13% multi-engine.

References

External links

Aerial photo as of 7 October 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 prov ...

'' via

MSR Maps Microsoft Research Maps (MSR Maps) was a free online repository of public domain aerial imagery and topographic maps provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The site was a collaboration between Microsoft Research (MSR), Bing Maps, an ...

* Airports in Kansas Buildings and structures in Labette County, Kansas {{Kansas-airport-stub