Friedman Memorial Airport

Facilities

Friedman Memorial Airport covers 211 acres (0.85 km²) at an elevation of 5,318 feet (1,621 m). Its one runway, 13/31, is 7,550 by 100 feet (2,301 by 30 m) asphalt.

In the year ending May 31, 2007 the airport had 68,540 aircraft operations, average 187 per day: 58% general aviation, 38% air taxi, 3% airline and <1% military. 150 aircraft were then based at the airport: 67% single-engine, 25% multi-engine, 5% jet, 1% helicopter and 1% ultralight.

History

The Friedman family donated much of the land for the airport to the city of Hailey in 1931 and the airport was officially recognized in 1932. According to photographs, the site had been used for aviation as early as 1916. Scheduled passenger airline service began in August 1960 with West Coast Airlines DC-3s, though the runway wasn't paved for a few more years. In the 1960s West Coast Airlines flew Douglas DC-3s and Piper Navajos to Sun Valley; Air West briefly served Friedman with Navajos after West Coast's merger with Bonanza Air Lines and Pacific Air Lines to form Air West in 1968. Successor Hughes Airwest never served the airport; their DC-9s flew to Twin Falls Airport which it showed as a gateway for Sun Valley in its 1970s timetables.

Airlines and destinations

Delta Air Lines is the dominant carrier via its Delta Connection service which was operated for many years by SkyWest Airlines with Embraer EMB-120s. In January 2014 this Delta Connection service was enhanced and expanded with SkyWest-operated Canadair CRJ-700 jet flights. Delta now operates the most flights with year round nonstop service to its Salt Lake City hub only.

United Airlines started seasonal service during the winter ski season in 2013 nonstop from San Francisco which was operated by SkyWest Airlines flying as United Express using CRJ-700 regional jets. Later that year, United Express announced that it would expand its service to add nonstop summer flights from San Francisco. Later, United Express announced their new nonstop CRJ-700 regional jet flights to Denver effective in July 2014.

Alaska Airlines, via its wholly owned regional partner Horizon Air, operate nonstop flights to Seattle and also nonstop to Los Angeles and Portland, OR on a seasonal basis with Bombardier Q400s, the largest and fastest member of the Dash 8 family. More flights operate during the winter ski season than other times of the year. Alaska/Horizon usually has 100 days of service to Los Angeles from mid December to late March. Horizon Air began serving Sun Valley late in 1983 with nonstop flights to Seattle and Boise on Fairchild F-27s.

Passenger

Starting in winter 1984-85 Horizon Air Fokker F28 Fellowships flew nonstop to San Francisco and Seattle; America West Airlines Boeing 737-300s appeared in winter 1989-90, flying nonstop to Los Angeles and Boise and direct to Las Vegas and San Jose, CA. The Boeing 737 was the largest aircraft ever scheduled to Sun Valley (in 1990 the runway was 6600 ft). After these flights ended the airport had no scheduled jets until Delta Connection and United Express began Canadair CRJ-700 flights in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

In the 1970s the airport was served by Sun Valley Airlines (later "Sun Valley Key Airlines" which changed its name to Key Airlines) using de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Convair 440, Piper Navajo and other prop aircraft. The airfield was briefly served by Gem State Airlines, Mountain West Airlines, Golden Gate Airlines and Scenic Airlines. Transwestern Airlines provided service for two years, until sidelined by a non-fatality accident near Hailey in 1983 (an emergency landing attempt on Highway 75). It was acquired later that year by Horizon Air, which began service in the early 1980s. Air Idaho served the airport in the mid 1970s with de Havilland Herons.