Huron Regional Airport is in

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawato ...

, in

Beadle County, South Dakota Beadle County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 19,149. Its county seat is Huron, South Dakota, Huron. The county was created in 1879 and organized in 1 ...

. The airport has charter passenger flights operated by

fixed base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction ...

(FBO), Fly Jet Center and Revv Aviation. Revv Aviation wants to bring all services to Huron including maintenance, avionics, flight school and charter.

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 say the airport had 2,365 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any ...

2008, 2,170 in 2009 and 2,016 in 2010. The

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2015–2019 categorized it as a ''

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 ...

'' airport (the ''commercial service'' category requires at least 2,500 enplanements per year).

History

The airport opened as the W. W. Howes Municipal Airport, in 1937, named in honor of William Washington Howes, First Assistant Postmaster General under Franklin Roosevelt. Howes brought airmail service to the Midwest. The airport hangar, pictured below, was named the W. W. Howes hangar in 1998 due to the efforts of Howes' grandson, Dr. Whiting Wicker. The current terminal was opened in 1979.

Past airline service

Airline flights at Huron began in the 1930s operated by Hanford's Tri-State Airlines (which became

Mid-Continent Airlines Mid-Continent Airlines was an airline which operated in the central United States from the 1930s until 1952 when it was acquired by and merged with Braniff International Airways. Mid-Continent Airlines was originally founded as a flight school at ...

, a

Braniff International Airways Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

predecessor) and also by Inland Air Lines (a

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 ...

predecessor). In 1948 Western

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 versi ...

s stopped at Huron on a multi-stop route between

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

. By 1956, the airport was part of multi-stop route flown by Western with

Convair 240 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 inro ...

s between

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and Minneapolis/St. Paul with this flight also serving

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. In 1958 Braniff was serving Huron with a daily multi-stop DC-3 flight linking Minneapolis/St. Paul with

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

and

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

. In 1964 Western was operating larger

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

four engine propliners into the airport on a multi-stop service between Salt Lake City and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Braniff pulled out of Huron in 1959 and Western pulled out at the beginning of 1965. North Central Airlines DC-3s arrived at Huron around 1959; in 1962 the airport had international service of a sorts as North Central was operating a daily DC-3 flight with a routing of

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...

Bismarck, ND Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popu ...

/ Mandan, ND - Aberdeen, SD - Huron - Mitchell, SD - Sioux Falls -

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...

. In 1965 North Central was serving Huron with

Convair 440 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 inro ...

s and in 1967 with Convair 580s. By 1972 all North Central flights from Huron were operated with Convair 580 turboprops.Oct. 29, 1972 North Central timetable
/ref> In 1979, North Central merged with

Southern Airways Southern Airways was a regional airline (known at the time as a "local-service air carrier" as designated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with ...

to form Republic Airlines (1979-1986) which continued to serve Huron with Convair 580s until the end of 1981. Republic was acquired by and merged into

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

in 1986. In 1981 Northern Airlines, a commuter airline, was flying from Huron to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Sioux Falls,

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 ...

and

Pierre, SD Pierre ( ; lkt, Čhúŋkaške, lit=fort) is the State capital, capital city of South Dakota, United States, and the County seat, seat of Hughes County, South Dakota, Hughes County. The population was 14,091 at the 2020 United States Census, 202 ...

. By 1982, Mesaba Aviation operating as an independent commuter air carrier was operating direct one stop service to Minneapolis/St. Paul via either Brookings, SD or Mitchell, SD with

Beechcraft 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier Be ...

commuter turboprops. Mesaba then became a

Northwest Airlink Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium-siz ...

affiliate and was operating

code sharing In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

service on behalf of

to Minneapolis/St. Paul by the mid 1980s. According to Northwest Airlines timetables, the Northwest Airlink service operated by Mesaba to Minneapolis/St. Paul with commuter propjets such as the

Fairchild 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 ...

lasted through 1990 but had been discontinued by early 1991. Following cessation of service by Mesaba Aviation operating as Northwest Airlink, during the early 1990s independent commuter air carrier GP Express Airlines operated direct

Beechcraft 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With ...

commuter propjet service to Minneapolis/St. Paul via a stop in either Brookings, SD or Mitchell, SD. By the spring of 2005,

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 ...

, a division of

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...

, was operating direct one stop service from

via Brookings, SD with

commuter propjets. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight st ...

(OAG) as well as the

FlightAware FlightAware is an American multi-national technology company that provides real-time, historical, and predictive flight tracking data and products. , it is the world's largest flight tracking platform, with a network of over 32,000 ADS-B gro ...

website, the airport currently does not have any scheduled passenger airline service.

Facilities and aircraft

Huron Regional Airport covers 1,235

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s (500 ha) 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 § ...

of 1,289 feet (393 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 '' ...

. It has two concrete runways: 12/30 is 7,201 by 100 feet (2,195 x 30 m) and 17/35 is 5,000 by 75 feet (1,524 x 23 m). In 2010, the airport had 13,452 aircraft operations, averaging 36 per day. Of these, 89% were

, 9% scheduled commercial and 2%

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 ...

. 27 aircraft were then based at this airport, 82% 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 ...

, 11% multi-engine and 7%

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 attribu ...

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2000-7138
from the U.S. Department of Transportation: *
Order 2004-7-5 (July 6, 2004)
selects Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. to continue providing subsidized essential air service at Pierre, and Air Midwest to provide subsidized essential air service at Brookings and Huron, for a two-year period. Great Lakes' service at Pierre is to consist of 12 weekly nonstop round trips to Denver with 19-seat Beech 1900-D aircraft, at an annual subsidy of $449,912. Air Midwest's service at Brookings and Huron is to consist of 12 weekly flights routed Huron-Brookings-Omaha-Brookings-Huron, with 19-seat Beech 1900-D aircraft, at an annual subsidy of $2,078,727. *
Order 2006-8-11 (August 11, 2006)
selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Brookings and Huron, South Dakota, consisting of two daily one-stop round trips to Denver International Airport, at annual subsidy rates of $1,212,400, and $793,733, respectively, beginning October 1, 2006. *
Order 2008-7-34 (July 31, 2008)
re-selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to continue to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Huron, South Dakota, for the two-year period beginning October 1, 2008, at the annual subsidy rate of $1,781,159. *
Order 2010-8-12 (August 25, 2010)
selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to continue providing subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Huron, South Dakota, for the two-year period beginning October 1, 2010, at the annual subsidy rate $1,742,886.

External links

* at South Dakota DOT Airport Directory
Aerial image as of October 1997
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, ...

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 ...

'' * {{Authority control Airports in South Dakota Former Essential Air Service airports Buildings and structures in Huron, South Dakota Transportation in Beadle County, South Dakota