Aberdeen Regional Airport is a city-owned, 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 two nautical miles (3.7 km) east of the central business district of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, a city in

Brown County, South Dakota Brown County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 38,301, making it the fourth-most populous county in South Dakota. Its county seat is Aberdeen. The county is named for Alfred Br ...

, United States. 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 ...

, and is served by

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...

Airlines and destinations

The airport is one of two commercial airports in the state of South Dakota with airline service to only one destination, the other being

Pierre Regional Airport Pierre Regional Airport is a public airport three miles east of Pierre, in Hughes County, South Dakota. Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 15,983 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 13,692 in 2009 ...

Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

serves 16 destinations &

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

serves 15 destinations, while

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

serves two destinations. As of 2022, Delta Connection currently operates mainly

CRJ200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...

aircraft and sometimes

CRJ700 The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from t ...

and

CrJ900 The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from ...

aircraft seasonally. Sun Country also did seasonal charter flights to Arizona. These flights were known as gambling flights, and ended in 2021. FedEx Feeder operated by CSA Air flys occasionally to Sioux Falls. Passenger Service

Map of destinations

Cargo Service

Top destinations

Facilities and aircraft

Aberdeen 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 § Ver ...

of 1,302 feet (397 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

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 6,901 by 100 feet (2,103 x 30 m) with a

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 wid ...

surface; 17/35 is 5,500 by 100 feet (1,676 x 30 m) with an

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 ...

surface. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2017, the airport had 40,152 aircraft operations, an average of 110 per day: 83%

, 4% scheduled commercial, 13%

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 <1%

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 ...

. At that time there were 55 aircraft based at this airport: 34 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 ...

, 15 multi-engine, 5 jet and 1

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 ...

. The passenger terminal is one of four terminals in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

that boasts a moving

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

, the other three being

Sioux Falls Regional Airport Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later served a ...

Rapid City Regional Airport Rapid City Regional Airport is a public use airport, nine miles southeast of Rapid City, in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems ...

, and

. However,

Watertown Regional Airport Watertown Regional Airport , formerly Watertown Municipal Airport, is two miles northwest of Watertown in Codington County, South Dakota, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015-2019 categorized it as a '' non- ...

opened its new treminal in August of 2022 and has a new jet bridge which is expected to be placed in service in September, 2022. The loading bridge allows passengers to board the aircraft from directly inside the terminal and right onto the aircraft without having to walk outside. As of September 2022,

is the only commercial airline currently operating out of Aberdeen Regional Airport, providing jet only service on daily flights to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

History

In 1923, Aberdeen hosted the first fly-in event in South Dakota. 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 ...

, the airfield was used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as a contract glider training airfield owned by Anderson & Brennan Flying Service, beginning on 25 May 1942. The mission of the school was to train glider pilot students in proficiency in operation of gliders in various types of towed and soaring flight, both day and night, and in servicing of gliders in the field. They primarily used

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in f ...

s and

Waco CG-4 Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

Gliders. From 1950s to 2002 the military pulled out and airline service was boosted at the airport. Airlines such as Northwest,

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

(operated by

Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines was an American regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters were in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a hub at Denver International Airport. As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines ...

), and

Republic Airlines Republic Airlines was an American airline formed by the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways on July 1, 1979. Their headquarters were at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, in what is now Fort Snelling, Minnesota, Fort ...

were now operated at a small terminal (now a Ground Crew shed) in the middle of the airport. The terminal had a ramp gate meaning passengers would walk up to the plane. In, 2002 United pulled out of Aberdeen, after terminating Great Lakes contract, and Northwest continued to operate now with

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different o ...

aircraft until 2011 and replaced by

Bombardier CRJ200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) ...

under Delta Connection. In, 2006 a new terminal was built south of the airport. It was much larger, and was equipped with two gates. One had a jetway and the other would be an on-ramp if the jetway had maintenance issues. Delta would eventually replace Northwest after merging with the airline, and Delta Connection would continue flying to Minneapolis. In 2019, a new larger jetway was added to the airport, which was able to support larger aircraft. In 2020, the town proposed plans to expand the terminal, extend and widen the runway, due to Delta announcing the retirement of their CRJ-200s. In 2021, Aberdeen renewed their contract with Skywest to continue their air service at Aberdeen after Pierre and Watertown replaced Skywest's United operations with

Denver Air Connection Denver Air Connection is a subsidiary of Key Lime Air providing both charter and scheduled passenger air service. History Key Lime Air, dba Denver Air Connection (DAC), operates FAR Part 121 regional airline scheduled passenger service and sc ...

Notable visitors

President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

landed here in the early 2000s to speak at a rally at

Northern State University Northern State University (NSU) is a public university in Aberdeen, South Dakota. NSU is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and offers 45 bachelor's degrees, 53 minors, six associate degrees, 16 pre-professional programs, 23 certif ...

. Reba McEntire made a stop here on July 22, 2013, when the

Phenom 100 The Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 is a light business jet designed and produced by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The project was announced in November 2005. On 26 July 2007, the aircraft made its first flight. It was awarded a type ...

jet she was traveling in stopped at the airport to refuel. She was on her way to a concert in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta.

References

* Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas * Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC.

External links

Aberdeen Regional Airport
at City of Aberdeen website * at

South Dakota DOT The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) is a Government of South Dakota, state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of South Dakota. South Dakota has 82,447 miles of highways, roads and ...

Airport Directory
The WW II Glider Pilots
* * {{authority control 1937 establishments in South Dakota USAAF Glider Training Airfields USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields Airports in South Dakota Buildings and structures in Aberdeen, South Dakota Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in South Dakota Transportation in Brown County, South Dakota Essential Air Service