Rhinelander–Oneida County Airport is a public use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located southwest of the central business district of Rhinelander, a city in Oneida County,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The airport is owned by the city and county. It is primarily used for

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

and is also served by two commercial airlines. It is included in the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2025–2029, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. It is the seventh busiest of the eight commercial airports in Wisconsin in terms of passengers served, and the only one to not have air traffic control services on field.

History

In 1975, North Central Airlines (which later merged with Southern and Hughes Air West to form Republic, which was acquired by Northwest Airlines, itself acquired by Delta Air Lines) was considering ending service to Rhinelander. Robert Heck, who worked as a stockbroker in the same office building in Wausau, Wisconsin as Arthur Mueller, head of North Central Airlines, learned of that news. Heck then worked on a campaign, enlisting local and national business officials to modernize the airport and retain North Central service. He made presentations locally and in Washington, D.C., which led to businesses opening near the airport and a 1979 airport terminal to replace one that was 3,482 square foot in size. Heck later became a member of the airport commission. He was awarded the 1976 Aviation Award at the 21st annual Wisconsin Aeronautics Conference.

Facilities and aircraft

Rhinelander–Oneida County Airport covers an area of 1,259

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s (509 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''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 equipotenti ...

of 1,623 feet (495 m) above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has two

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: the primary runway 9/27 is 6,800 by 150 feet (2,073 x 46 m)

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

runway with approved ILS, GPS and VOR/DME approaches, and the crosswind runway 15/33 is 5,201 by 100 feet (1,585 x 30 m) asphalt runway with approved GPS approaches. Runway 27 has a 100 foot asphalt stop-way on the western end. In addition, the Rhinelander VORTAC (RHI) navigational facility is located at the field. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 24,958 aircraft operations, an average of 68 per day: 88%

, 6% scheduled commercial and 6%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

. In August 2024, there were 43 aircraft based at this airport: 37 single-engine, 3 multi-engine, 2 jet and 1

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

. Both based and transient general aviation aircraft are supported by the

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) Rhinelander Flying Service. The Rhinelander–Oneida County Airport enhances regional air travel safety by maintaining an Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) 'Index A' trained team and related equipment.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The airport is part of the federal government Essential Air Service program. In 2012, Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines bid for and then won the EAS contract on January 3, 2013. The airline currently receives $2,560,031 in federal subsidies per year operating 69-seat Bombardier CRJ700 jet aircraft through to January 31, 2024. Seasonally, Delta uses the larger CRJ900 jets on the Minneapolis route. This was especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Delta Connection flew fewer flights but instead used their larger 76-seat aircraft. Past air service includes Midwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Great Lakes Airlines.

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it Delta Air Lines–Northwest Airlines merger, merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline ...

served the Minneapolis route and also had service to Detroit prior to the merger with Delta.

Top destinations

Cargo

Accidents

*On October 15, 1970, a Canadian

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the OA- ...

operated by ''Barringer Research Inc.'' attempted to take off for a flight to test mineral research equipment. There was a large accumulation of frost on the airframe which caused the aircraft to stall and crash. Two crew out of the five occupants on board were killed.

Popular culture

John Heisman John William Heisman ( ; October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

, college football's

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

namesake, is buried in Rhinelander, which is his wife's hometown. A statue of Heisman is located just inside the Rhinelander-Oneida County airport.Barry Adams.
Airport a gateway to the world in Rhinelander but Donald Trump's budget could end it
. ''Wisconsin State Journal'', April 23, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.

References

External links

Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport
official site * from Wisconsin DOT Airport Directory * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport Airports in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Oneida County, Wisconsin Rhinelander, Wisconsin Essential Air Service