Golden Triangle Regional Airport

Golden Triangle Regional Airport (IATA: GTR, ICAO: KGTR, FAA LID: GTR) is a public use airport in Lowndes County, Mississippi.[1] The airport is located approximately midway between the cities of Starkville, Columbus, and West Point, Mississippi, and serves the surrounding Golden Triangle region of Mississippi and parts of West Alabama. GTR is used for general and military aviation, charter aircraft, and by commercial airline ExpressJet, operating as Delta Connection.

Golden Triangle Regional Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGolden Triangle Regional Authority
ServesColumbus / West Point / Starkville
LocationLowndes County, Mississippi
Elevation AMSL264 ft / 80 m
Coordinates33°26′54″N 088°35′29″W
Websitewww.GTRA.com
Map
GTR
Location of airport in Mississippi / United States
GTR
GTR (the United States)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
18/36 8,002 2,439 Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Aircraft operations29,864
Based aircraft37

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 35,669 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,[2] 36,275 enplanements in 2009, and 36,329 in 2010.[3] It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).[4] It is the third-busiest commercial airport in the state of Mississippi.

GTR is the nucleus of a new industrial complex in northeast Mississippi. American Eurocopter, a subsidiary of EADS North America,[5] moved into an 85,000-square-foot (7,900 m2) helicopter production plant built by the airport and leased to the company on airport property in 2004. In 2007 American Eurocopter finished the second phase of the project, a 220,000-square-foot (20,000 m2) facility built primarily to manufacture and assemble the new U.S. Army UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter. Severstal North America opened a steel mini-mill in an adjacent site in October 2007 and immediately began construction on phase II, bringing total investment in the plant to $1.8 billion. Paccar, parent company of Peterbilt, Kenworth and DAF (Dutch) trucks has operated a truck engine manufacturing facility since late 2010 that is located to the north of the airport.[6] Other industry, many with international roots, continues to locate at the industrial park adjacent to the airport. The area has two "Megasites" adjacent to the airport that were certified under the Tennessee Valley Authority's Certified Megasite program. In addition, two aerospace companies, Aurora Flight Sciences and Stark Aerospace, built facilities on airport property and primarily manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles. Stark Aerospace is the newly formed subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries.

Facilities and aircraft

Golden Triangle Regional Airport covers an area of 1,000 acres (405 ha) at an elevation of 264 feet (80 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 18/36 with an asphalt surface measuring 8,002 by 150 feet (2,439 x 46 m).[1] This runway is long enough to accommodate Boeing 757s and 767s flown by college football teams visiting Mississippi State University and the Bulldogs to their away games.

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2011, the airport had 29,864 aircraft operations, an average of 81 per day: 50% general aviation, 41% military, and 9% air taxi. At that time there were 37 aircraft based at this airport: 68% single-engine, 16% multi-engine, 3% jet, and 14% helicopter.[1]

Because of the projected growth, in the years since 2003 the airport has spent significant resources improving and upgrading the infrastructure. In 2003 a $1.6 million air traffic control tower was opened to maintain the safety of the flying operation and is manned under the FAA's Contract Tower Program. The runway was repaved and strengthened to take commercial aircraft up to a Boeing 757. Two additional parking ramps were constructed and the two existing ramps were rehabilitated. The terminal has had minor renovations but a major expansion was completed in 2010. A runway expansion from 6,497' to 8,000' was completed in June 2011.[7]

Airline and destination

Airline offering scheduled passenger service to non-stop destination:

AirlinesDestinations
Delta Connection Atlanta

Statistics
Carrier shares: (Dec 2014-Nov 2015)[8]
Carrier Passengers (arriving and departing)
ExpressJet
74,090(100%)
Top domestic destinations: (Feb 2016-Jan 2017)[8]
Rank Airport Passengers Airline
1 Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) 39,000 Delta Connection

Airline history

Chautauqua Airlines, a Republic Airways Holdings company, also operated flights under the Delta Connection banner early in 2006. Until Delta's withdrawing "focus city" operations from Dallas-Fort Worth in February 2005, GTR had one flight per day to DFW. Four ASA flights per day to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport remained until late 2005. In 2006, there were three flights per day to ATL.

Mesaba Aviation, d.b.a. Northwest Airlink, also operated flights to Memphis from GTR, but they ceased these operations in 2003 citing a desire to not compete with the new regional jet service being started by ASA as they replaced the Embraer fleet.

With the acquisition of Northwest Airlines by Delta Air Lines in 2008 Delta took over scheduling the Northwest flights in the Memphis hub. On January 27, 2009 Delta announced the resumption of service between GTR and Memphis on Mesaba Airlines, now operating as a Delta Connection carrier. The new service began on May 4, 2009 and supplements the Atlantic Southeast Airlines service to Atlanta. In 2010, Pinnacle Airlines started flying CRJ-200s as Delta started phasing the Saab-340 aircraft out of their Connection Carrier fleet.

In June 2019, Delta Connection added a fourth flight to Atlanta, adding an early afternoon flight.

References
  1. FAA Airport Master Record for GTR (Form 5010 PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. Effective April 5, 2012.
  2. "Enplanements for CY 2008" (PDF, 1.0 MB). CY 2008 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data. Federal Aviation Administration. December 18, 2009. External link in |work= (help)
  3. "Enplanements for CY 2010" (PDF, 189 KB). CY 2010 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2011. External link in |work= (help)
  4. "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF, 2.03 MB) on 2012-10-27. External link in |work= (help)
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2008-08-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Welcome to Paccar Engine Company". Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  7. "GTRA announces 1,500- foot runway expansion". Columbus Dispatch. June 17, 2011.
  8. "Columbus, MS: Golden Triangle Regional (GTR)". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. December 2012. Retrieved Mar 2016. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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