Airport type Public Elevation AMSL 5,446 ft / 1,660 m 8/26 6,802 Elevation 1,660 m | Owner Grant County Website SVC Website Code SVC Phone +1 575-388-4554 | |
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Serves Silver City, New Mexico Address 188 Airport Rd, Hurley, NM 88043, USA Similar Silver City Wastewat Plant, Silver City Sun‑News, Holiday Inn Express Silver City, Walmart Supercen, Smith Real Estate & Property | ||
Grant County Airport (IATA: SVC, ICAO: KSVC, FAA LID: SVC) is a county owned, public use airport in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. It is located 10 nautical miles (12 mi, 19 km) southeast of the central business district of Silver City, New Mexico. The airport is mostly used for general aviation, but is also served by one commercial airline. Service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
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As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 2,607 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 1,860 enplanements in 2009, and 1,501 in 2010. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a non-primary commercial service airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year).
Facilities and aircraft
Grant County Airport covers an area of 740 acres (299 ha) at an elevation of 5,446 feet (1,660 m) above mean sea level. It has four runways, including one asphalt paved runway 8/26 measuring 6,802 by 100 feet (2,073 x 30 m). The remaining three runways have dirt surfaces: 17/35 is 5,473 by 75 feet (1,668 x 23 m), 12/30 is 4,675 by 75 feet (1,425 x 23 m), and 3/21 is 4,537 by 80 feet (1,383 x 24 m).
For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2011, the airport had 4,463 aircraft operations, an average of 12 per day: 29% general aviation, 38% air taxi, 28% scheduled commercial, and 5% military. At that time there were 19 aircraft based at this airport: 84% single-engine and 16% multi-engine.
Airlines and destinations
Boutique Air operates Pilatus PC-12 turboprop aircraft on all flights. The aircraft has eight seats arranged in an executive configuration. Boutique Air utilizes a two-person flight crew.
Historical airline service
The Grant County Airport was dedicated on November 30, 1951, serving the communities of Silver City, Hurley, Lordsburg and Deming, New Mexico, as well as smaller communities in the so-called "Mining District," including Arenas Valley, Fort Bayard, Central (now Santa Clara), Bayard, and Santa Rita.The next day, on December 1, Frontier Airlines began operating flights from the airport as a stop on their route from El Paso to Phoenix, which also included stops at Clifton, Safford, and Tucson, Arizona. Before the opening of the Grant County Airport, the airline was serving local airports in Deming, NM and Lordsburg, NM; however, service to those cities was then discontinued. By 1958 the route was modified to originate in Albuquerque rather than El Paso and service to Clifton and Safford was then discontinued. At that time and on into the mid-1960s, the airline was flying the Douglas DC-3. Later, Frontier served the airport with larger Convair 340 prop aircraft followed by Convair 580 turboprops. Frontier's flights to Tucson and Phoenix were discontinued in 1974 and a small commuter carrier, Zia Airlines, began flights to Albuquerque with Handley Page Jetstream propjets in 1976. In the midst of growing into an all jet airline, Frontier ended their service in late 1979. Zia Airlines went out of business in early 1980 and Air Midwest began operating later that year with flights to Albuquerque using Swearingen Metroliner aircraft. Another commuter, Airways of New Mexico, operated flights to El Paso for a short time in 1980 as well. Mesa Airlines came to Silver City with Beechcraft 99 and Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from Albuquerque in 1985 at which time Air Midwest ended their service. Mesa's flights continued for 20 years until an Essential Air Service (EAS) contract was awarded to Great Lakes Airlines in 2005. Great Lakes started service with flights to Albuquerque, also using Beech 1900D's, but switched the flights to Phoenix in late 2012. Great Lakes ended all service in late 2014 and the EAS contract was then awarded to Boutique Air which began service in early 2015. Boutique is now providing flights to both Albuquerque and Phoenix using Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. Two other commuter airlines that served the Silver City to El Paso market for short periods of time include Aztec Airlines in 1966 and Turner Air in 1985.