Adirondack 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 four nautical miles (5 mi, 7 km) northwest of the central business district of Saranac Lake, in

Franklin County, New York Franklin County is a county on the northern border of the U.S. state of New York. To the north across the Canada–United States border are the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, from east to west. As of the 2020 census, the county popula ...

, United States. The airport is owned by the Town of Harrietstown and is situated in the north-central

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...

two miles (3 km) from

Lake Clear Lake Clear is a hamlet and a lake in Franklin County, New York, United States. The area is named for Lake Clear, part of the original Seven Carries canoe route. It is located in the town of Harrietstown. In the late 19th century, Lake Clear was ...

. It is 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. As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

records, the airport had 4,252 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 4,809 enplanements in 2009, and 5,762 in 2010. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''non-primary commercial service'' airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year).

History

In the autumn of 1940, a group of local men from the Saranac Lake Planning board got together to discuss the possibility of an airport in the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

, near Saranac Lake. Their thinking was that such a development would play an important part in the future development of the Adirondacks. Due to the mountainous nature of the region many thought such a development would not be likely. However, after countless reviews of area maps, a plateau large enough for airport purposes was identified within a few miles of Saranac Lake Village. The Planning Board's search for an airport site had been prompted by an announcement from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, that Congress had appropriated funds for the building of a system of airports throughout the country. There was, among other problems, however, one restriction. The land for an airport site, to be acceptable to the federal government, had to be publicly owned. The ideal site which these men had spotted on the map was part of the holdings of the Paul Smith's Electric Company. Since no other tract of suitable terrain was to be found within a radius of some , the whole effort might have bogged down but for the public-spirited cooperation of the Paul Smith's Electric Company which, in the interests of regional development, immediately deeded the tract to the Town of Harrietstown without cost. With the requirement of public ownership thus complied with, events moved swiftly toward the realization of an airport for the Adirondacks. Through persistent effort on the part of various citizens, who maintained close contact with Washington, D.C., the site was inspected and federal expenditures for construction of a Class III airport were approved. Step by step, the Town of Harrietstown Town Board and the Saranac Lake Airport Commission worked closely with state and federal agencies in the building process. Construction of the airfield was completed in 1942. The Town of Harrietstown issued bonds to augment the available funds and erected a terminal building in 1948 and a 100 by hangar in 1950. At the time, the airport was rated as one of the best built Class III airports in the country. Two commercial airlines,

Colonial Airlines Colonial Airlines was a United States airline from 1942 to 1956 with bases at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City and at Montréal/St-Hubert Airport in Montreal, Canada. History It was founded as Canadian Colonial Airways on 6 March 1928 to ...

and

Resort Airlines A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

, served the region at that time. Airmail service was provided by Colonial Airlines. The volume of air express business handled by

Railway Express Agency Railway Express Agency (REA), founded as the American Railway Express Agency and later renamed the American Railway Express Inc., was a national package delivery service that operated in the United States from 1918 to 1975. REA arranged trans ...

increased steadily, as did the number of privately owned aircraft using the field. Resort traffic response was immediate and increased steadily. The airport was officially dedicated to the service of the people of the Adirondacks on July 10, 1949. Since 1960, the Town of Harrietstown has operated the airport. The Saranac Lake Airport was renamed in 1989 to the Adirondack Regional Airport.

Commutair CommuteAir, operating as United Express, is a U.S. regional airline founded in 1989. Today, CommuteAir operates more than 1600 weekly flights to over 75 U.S. destinations and 3 in Mexico, with Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft, from its bases at Denver, ...

, a marketing affiliate of

US Air US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon b ...

, began serving Adirondack Regional Airport in 1991. In 2000, the

cited Adirondack Regional Airport for several violations, including failure to conduct monthly fire-and-rescue training and triennial full-scale emergency exercises, faded markings on the

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

, cracked pavement on runways and the taxi-way, and broken lights.DiMeo, Sam. "Regional Airport surrenders certificate: 26 violations must be remedied before larger planes can land]". ''Press-Republican'' (Plattsburgh, New York). August 9, 2001. During an inspection in 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration found the violations had not been corrected and, as a result, Adirondack Regional Airport surrendered its certificate allowing larger planes to land at the airport. Repairs began in September 2001. Commutair ended service at Adirondack Regional Airport in October 2007.Dedam, Kim Smith. "CommutAir pulling out of Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake: CommutAir cites shift in fleet plan". ''Press-Republican'' (Plattsburgh, New York). May 18, 2007. Commutair had been flying into Adirondack Regional Airport on 19-seat planes, and Commutair decided to replace all of those planes with larger planes that it decided were too large for the airport. Big Sky Airlines, a partner of

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 ...

, began service at the airport when Commutair ended its service. Big Sky Airlines ended its service to the airport in December 2007, and the airline went out of business several months later."Big Sky crews land airline's last flights". ''Billings Gazette'' (Billings, Montana). March 9, 2008. The

United States 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 a ...

invited airlines to bid to serve the airport, and

Cape Air Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, the Caribbean, Midwest, and Eas ...

was the only airline to bid.LoTemplio, Joe. "Cape Air chosen as new regional airline". ''Press-Republican'' (Plattsburgh, New York). January 16, 2008. Cape Air was a partner of

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...

and Continental Airlines. Cape Air's service at Adirondack Regional Airport began in 2008.

Facilities and aircraft

Adirondack 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 1,663 feet (507 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: 5/23 is 6,573 by 150 feet (2,003 x 46 m) and 9/27 is 3,997 by 100 feet (1,218 x 30 m). Originally and through the 1960s, the Adirondack Airport had three runways, all of which were 4000 feet long. Between mid-1957 and mid-1958, the main runway (5/23) was extended to 5000 feet long. Runway 16/34 was long and wide, but was abandoned sometime between the mid-1970s and early 1980s. The main runway was then lengthened from to its present length during the early 1970s or thereabouts and 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 ...

and approach lighting system was installed on the southwest-facing runway 23. Also, a parallel taxiway was added to almost the full length of runway 9-27 and a partial parallel taxiway was added between the abandoned northwest–southeast runway - part of which was converted into a taxiway and the approach end of runway 23. Around the mid-2010s, runway 27 had its landing threshold displaced by 400 feet. For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2018, the airport had 6,940 aircraft operations, an average of 18 per day: 72%

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 ...

, 27%

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 16 aircraft based at this airport: 13 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 ...

, 2 multi-engine 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 ...

Airline and destinations

The following

airline 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 wh ...

offers scheduled passenger service:

Climate

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket DOT-OST-2000-8025
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 2006-7-12
reselecting Champlain Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a CommutAir, operating as Continental Connection, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake/Lake Placid, New York, at an annual subsidy rate of $1,706,755 for the two-year period of September 1, 2006, through August 31, 2008. *
Order 2007-9-13
selecting Big Sky Transportation Co., d/b/a Big Sky Airlines, operating as Delta Connection, to provide subsidized EAS at Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake/Lake Placid, New York, utilizing 19-seat Beech 1900-D aircraft, at an annual subsidy rate of $2,408,294. *
Order 2008-1-12
selecting Hyannis Air Service, Inc., d/b/a Cape Air, to provide essential air service (EAS) at Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake/Lake Placid, New York, for the two-year period beginning when the carrier starts full EAS at both communities. *
Order 2010-3-27
selecting Hyannis Air Service, Inc., d/b/a Cape Air, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Saranac Lake/Lake Placid, New York, for a four-year term beginning March 1, 2010, with 9-seat Cessna 402s, at an annual subsidy rate of $1,366,538. *
Order 2014-2-19
selecting Hyannis Air Service, Inc., d/b/a Cape Air, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Saranac Lake/Lake Placid, New York, for a four-year term beginning March 1, 2014, with 9-seat Cessna 402s, at an annual subsidy rate of $1,832,064.

External links

*
Adirondack Regional Airport
* at New York State DOT Airport Directory
Aerial image as of May 1994
from USGS ''

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 New York (state) Essential Air Service Buildings and structures in Franklin County, New York Transportation in Franklin County, New York Adirondacks Saranac Lake, New York