Airport type Public Elevation AMSL 674 ft / 205 m 4/22 6,574 Elevation 205 m | Serves Racine, Wisconsin Website www.BattenAirport.aero Code RAC Phone +1 262-631-5620 | |
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Owner Racine Commercial Airport Corp. Address 3239 N Green Bay Rd, Racine, WI 53404, USA Similar Batten Internatio Airport, General Mitchell Internatio, US Customs and Bord, Sylvania Airport‑C89, Kenosha Regional Airport | ||
John H. Batten Airport (IATA: RAC, ICAO: KRAC, FAA LID: RAC), also known as Batten International Airport, is a public use airport located 2 miles (3 km; 2 nmi) northwest of the central business district of Racine, a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, North America. It is privately owned by the Racine Commercial Airport Corporation. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a reliever general aviation facility.
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History
The airport was founded in 1941 by Carlyle Godske on roughly 160 acres (65 ha) of land purchased from local businessman J.A. Horlick. For most of its history, the airport was known as Racine-Horlick Field, but on September 5, 1989, the name was changed to John H. Batten Field. John H. Batten was one of the airport's early founders and supporters as well as the longtime CEO of Racine's Twin Disc, Inc.
During World War II (ca 1941-1945), the newly established airport was used as a flight and ground school for the Army. Students were housed at Racine College on the south side of Racine. Ground school instruction was given at Horlick High School and the actual flight training took place at the airport. Today, the airport is used primarily by local aviation enthusiasts and by the corporate jets of large local companies such as S.C. Johnson & Son and Twin Disc, Inc.
Facilities and aircraft
On July 30, 2010, plans were announced to have a full time aviation maintenance firm on the field, planned to have opened on September 1, 2010.
John H. Batten Airport covers an area of 467 acres (189 ha), including two paved runways:
For the 12-month period ending August 4, 2015, the airport had 47,000 aircraft operations, an average of 129 per day: 96% general aviation and 4% air taxi. In March 2017, there were 88 aircraft based at this airport: 69 single-engine, 13 multi-engine, 5 jet and 1 helicopter.