Elko Regional Airport

Elko Regional Airport
J.C. Harris Field
Elko Regional Airport terminal
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner City of Elko
Serves Elko, Nevada
Elevation AMSL 5,140 ft / 1,567 m
Coordinates 40°49′30″N 115°47′30″W / 40.82500°N 115.79167°W / 40.82500; -115.79167Coordinates: 40°49′30″N 115°47′30″W / 40.82500°N 115.79167°W / 40.82500; -115.79167
Website www.flyelkonevada.com
Map
EKO
Location of airport in Nevada / United States
EKO
EKO (the US)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
6/24 7,455 2,272 Asphalt
12/30 2,871 875 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Aircraft operations 20,151
Based aircraft 79
FAA diagram

Elko Regional Airport (IATA: EKO, ICAO: KEKO, FAA LID: EKO), formerly Elko Municipal Airport, is a mile west of downtown Elko, in Elko County, Nevada.[1]

The airport was named J.C. Harris Field in 1975 in honor of Jess C. Harris, a sheriff from Elko known as "The Flying Sheriff".[2]

History

On April 6, 1926, when it was called Elko Airport, the airfield was the terminus for the first scheduled air mail run in the United States, flown by Varney Air Lines.[3] Varney was a predecessor of United Air Lines.

As early as 1931, Elko was a stop on a passenger service flight between New York City and San Francisco.[4] In a June 15, 1931 timetable, United Airlines predecessor National Air Transport is shown flying a New York City–Cleveland–Toledo–Chicago route, connecting to Boeing Air Transport's flight to Iowa City–Des Moines–Omaha–Lincoln–North Platte–Cheyenne–Rock Springs–Salt Lake City–Elko, and then onward to Reno–Sacramento–Oakland. The scheduled time of this flight was 31 hours westbound and 28 hours eastbound. United later served Elko with Boeing 247, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-6B and Convair 340 piston-powered aircraft.

Starting in November 1977, United Boeing 737-200 jetliners operated round trip San Francisco - Reno - Elko - Ely - Salt Lake City service; however in 1982 United ended this flight, which had been previously operated with a Douglas DC-6B aircraft which in turn was United's last piston powered service in the U.S.[5] In the April 27, 1969 United timetable a DC-6 was listed as the aircraft type operating San Francisco - Oakland - Reno - Elko - Ely - Salt Lake City service; the return trip skipped Oakland. This was the only piston flight in the timetable at the time. In 1970 United replaced the DC-6 service with Convair 580 turboprops operated by Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) via a subcontract arrangement; the flights used the "UA" airline code[6] until 737s took over.

Casino Express Airlines was based in Elko and supported the local casino industry, flying scheduled charter Boeing 737-200 jets from Elko to many cities starting in the late 1980s. In 1994, Casino Express scheduled weekend only flights nonstop between Elko and Portland, OR and Seattle with McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners.[7] Casino Express eventually changed its name to Xtra Airways and later ended jet service to Elko.

Another carrier that operated jets to Elko was Royal West Airlines flying BAe 146-200s nonstop to Las Vegas in 1987.[8]

SkyWest Airlines began serving Elko as an independent commuter carrier during the early 1980s, flying Swearingen Metro commuter propjets to Reno, Salt Lake City and Ely.[9] By the late 1980s SkyWest was serving the airport as Western Express for Western Airlines via code sharing agreement with flights mainly to Salt Lake City on Metros.[10] Following the merger of Western into Delta Air Lines, SkyWest became a Delta Connection carrier via a code sharing agreement and in 1989 was flying Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops to Salt Lake City in addition to Metro service.[11] SkyWest continues to serve the airport as a Delta Connection carrier and is the only airline serving Elko at the present time.

Facilities

Elko Regional Airport covers 700 acres (280 ha) and has two asphalt runways: 5/23 measuring 7,214 x 150 ft (2,199 x 46 m) and 12/30 measuring 2,871 x 60 ft (875 x 18 m).[1]

In the year ending August 31, 2007 the airport had 16,520 aircraft operations, average 45 per day: 73% general aviation, 27% air taxi and <1% military. 69 aircraft were then based at this airport: 77% single-engine, 10% multi-engine, 6% jet and 7% helicopter.[1]

Airline and destination

AirlinesDestinations
Delta Connection Salt Lake City

SkyWest operating as Delta Connection flies Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets between Elko and Delta Air Lines' hub at Salt Lake City International Airport.

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from EKO
(Dec 2015 - Nov 2016)[12]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Salt Lake City, Utah 15,000 Delta

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Master Record for EKO (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2016-09-15
  2. ↑ Air Mail Pioneers: Jess C. Harris
  3. ↑ "Elko Airport". Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, June 15, 1931 United Airlines timetable
  5. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, April 27, 1969 United Airlines timetable
  6. ↑ North American Official Airline Guide (OAG), February 1, 1976 edition
  7. ↑ Sept. 15, 1994 OAG Desktop Flight Guide, North American Edition
  8. ↑ April 1, 1987 Official Airline Guide
  9. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, April 24, 1983 SkyWest Airlines route map
  10. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, March 1, 1987 Western Airlines route map including Western Express routes
  11. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, Dec. 15, 1989 Official Airline Guide
  12. ↑ https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=EKO&Airport_Name=Elko, NV: Elko Regional&carrier=FACTS
  • Elko Airport, official site
  • El Aero Services, Inc., the fixed-base operator (FBO)
  • "Diagram of Elko Municipal Airport (EKO)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-07-14. from Nevada DOT
  • FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective October 11, 2018
  • FAA Terminal Procedures for EKO, effective October 11, 2018
  • Resources for this airport:
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