Albert J. Ellis Airport is a county-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 surface ...

Onslow County, North Carolina Onslow County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 204,576. Its county seat is Jacksonville. The county was created in 1734 as Onslow Precinct and gained county status in 1739. Onslo ...

, United States. It is located in Richlands, 10 nautical miles (19 km) northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

and

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States Armed Forces, United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for Amphibious warfare, amphibious assault training, and its ...

. The airport has a single

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 concrete, as ...

and three gates. Opening on February 15, 1971, the airport is used by

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 ...

, the military and two commercial airlines,

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

and

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 ...

.OAJ Airport Director American Eagle operates services to

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

. These services are operated by

PSA Airlines PSA Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered at Dayton International Airport in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Air ...

, which operates CRJ-700s and CRJ-900s, and

Piedmont Airlines Piedmont Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered at the Salisbury Regional Airport in unincorporated Wicomico County, Maryland, near the city of Salisbury. The airline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Airlines ...

, which operates ERJ-145s.OAJ Airport Director On August 30, 2006,

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 List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

announced new service from the airport to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, operated by Delta Connection carrier

ExpressJet Airlines ExpressJet Airlines was a regional U.S. airline headquartered in College Park, Georgia. The company originally operated as a contracted codeshare partner, flying under the American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express brands at various p ...

, starting on December 11, 2006. Delta began operating B-717 aircraft on the OAJ-ATL route on August 28, 2016. When ExpressJet closed, the service transferred to Endeavor Airlines.OAJ Airport Director

Facilities and aircraft

Albert J. Ellis 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 § Vert ...

of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

designated 5/23 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 a ...

surface measuring . For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2020, the airport had 29,544 aircraft operations, an average of 81 per day: 35%

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 ...

, 33%

, 23% scheduled commercial and 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) an ...

. In December 2020, there were 26 aircraft based at this airport: 22 single-engine, 1 multi-engine and 3 helicopter. The airport is served by a fixed-base operator, Skyport Aviation, which offers fueling, maintenance, flight instruction and aircraft rentals from the new 10,000-ft² executive terminal, which opened in 2015. In 2013, the airport began construction on a two-story, replacement passenger terminal building. The new terminal features passenger loading bridges, new concessions, expanded passenger areas and space for additional airlines. This is part of the airport's $50-million Terminal Area Redevelopment Program. The new terminal was topped off on June 10, 2014, and officially opened on August 19, 2015, National Aviation Day.OAJ Airport Director On December 6, 2017, the airport began construction on its first air traffic control tower. The six-story-tall tower opened on November 1, 2018. The airport upgraded the lighting and signs on the runway and taxiways to LED in 2018/2019. A project to add a extension to the northeast end of the runway (lengthening the runway to total) is planned to begin in 2023, with construction beginning in 2025. Other projects to rehabilitate and expand airfield pavements are also planned to begin between 2023 and 2027.

Passenger statistics

Top nonstop destinations

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

* * at NCDOT airport directory
Aerial image as of March 1993
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 ...