Manhattan Regional Airport

Facilities

Manhattan Regional Airport covers 680 acres (275 ha) at an elevation of 1,066 feet (325 m).

In 2014 the airport had 23,783 aircraft operations: 78% general aviation, 15% airline, and 7% military. 46 aircraft were then based at this airport: 33 single-engine, 12 multi-engine and 1 jet.

The airport has two concrete runways: 3/21 is 7,000 by 150 feet (2,134 x 46 m) and 13/31 is 5,000 by 75 feet (1,524 x 23 m). There are five taxiways and two parking aprons; they can support aircraft as large as the Boeing 767 or C-17.

Three navigation systems and multiple lighting systems guide aircraft to the Airport. An FAA control tower and two Aircraft Rescue and Fire-Fighting (ARFF) vehicles round out the airside support. Any aircraft with 30 passenger seats or more, or over 110,000 lb (50,000 kg) landing weight requires prior permission from the Airport Director to land. Aircraft as large as the Boeing 767 land occasionally as charters for the military or sports teams.

Services

The first phase of the airport's new 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m²) terminal facility opened in March 2015, housing American Airlines, Hertz Rent-a-Car, Enterprise Car Rental, and other services. The expanded facility will include two gates, an expanded TSA security checkpoint, and additional passenger circulation space. There will also be accommodations for an airport restaurant. The terminal replaces a 11,700-square-foot (1,090 m²) terminal opened in 1997, which was demolished and replaced due to increased commercial airline traffic. The terminal is located at 5500 Skyway Drive, adjacent to the FAA control tower and FBO.

The FBO facility, next to the passenger terminal, is occupied by Kansas Air Center, which has been operating at the Manhattan airport since May 1989. It is a full service FBO, providing fuel, charter service, flight instruction, aircraft rental and management services.

An older 4,100-square-foot (380 m²) terminal building built in 1958 is now home to the airport administrative offices. This facility is at 1725 South Airport Road, 1 mile (2 km) east of the passenger terminal.

Heartland Aviation uses an 8,000-square-foot (700 m²) stone maintenance hangar, constructed in 1940, next to the old terminal building for servicing and repairing aircraft. The Kansas State University Flying Club, an airport tenant for over 50 years, has office space in this facility for instruction and flight planning.

Other facilities include a fire station, 48 hangars, storage areas, a fuel farm, and an air traffic control tower.

The airport offers complimentary parking adjacent to the passenger terminal.

Airline and destinations

American Eagle operates daily flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. American Eagle flies the Embraer ERJ 145 family on both routes.

History

On June 13, 1939, construction of Manhattan’s airport began with the planting of temporary grass runways. The facility was dedicated in November 1940. The first "Manhattan Municipal Airport" terminal was dedicated on April 19, 1953, with U.S. Senator Frank Carlson providing an address. Commercial airline flights began earlier that month. The current terminal opened in 1997 – it is currently undergoing a $15.8 million expansion. As part of the expansion the airport installed its first jet bridges in 2015.

Since the 1950s a number of commercial airlines have served Manhattan Regional Airport.

Service history

The first scheduled airline service to Manhattan was Continental Airlines, which began DC-3 flights to Wichita in April 1953. Continental's DC-3 flight ended in 1961, replaced by Central.

Capital Air Service, Inc. (ICAO airline designator CPX), was headquartered in Manhattan from the 1960s until the company ceased flights in 1989, after having twice been grounded by the FAA for multiple safety and records keeping violations. Capital Air provided point-to-point air service to cities throughout northeastern Kansas.

During the 1970s Capital Air, operating as an air taxi service, suffered two crashes, one with fatalities. During the 1980s one of its aircraft was tipped over by a gust of wind while waiting for take off clearance, and another aircraft, a DCH-6 Twin Otter, clipped the side of a terminal building, both incidents occurring at Kansas City International Airport.

At the height of its operations Capital Air served Manhattan; Salina, KS (SLN); Topeka, KS (FOE); Lawrence, KS (LWC); and Kansas City, MO (MCI) using two 20-passenger deHavilland Canada DCH-6 Twin Otter turboprop aircraft and one or more smaller piston-engine aircraft.

Starting when it merged with Central Airlines in 1967, the original Frontier Airlines flew from Manhattan to Salina; Topeka (FOE); Wichita (ICT); and Kansas City on 44-seat Convair CV580s. By the early 1980s Frontier's Convairs were gone, replaced with a single daily non-stop 737 to Denver (DEN) that ended in 1982-83.

From the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, before its sale to Mesa Air Group in 1991, Wichita-based Air Midwest flew Manhattan to Salina and Kansas City on 19-passenger Fairchild Metroliner IIIs.

For several years in the mid-1980s Air Midwest was an Eastern Air Lines affiliate and flew 30-passenger Saab 340As in Eastern paint to Kansas City.

When Eastern closed its hub at Kansas City, Air Midwest sold their Saabs and signed a new codeshare agreement with the second incarnation of Braniff Airlines, which had started a small hub at MCI, and began flights to Kansas City on Fairchild Metroliner IIIs.

In 1991 Air Midwest was sold to the Mesa Air Group of Nevada. Subsequently, Air Midwest (a Mesa Air Group subsidiary), acting under a codeshare agreement with U.S. Airways and operating as US Airways Express, served Kansas City, Missouri from Manhattan, Kansas with three daily flights using 19-passenger Beechcraft 1900D turboprop aircraft. The service ended with Air Midwest's bankruptcy in 2008, when all Essential Air Service contracts and flights operated by Mesa were closed.

Great Lakes Airlines flew to Manhattan between March 30, 2008, and April 7, 2010, taking over after Mesa left and ending service after American Eagle announced additional expansion. There were three daily flights, most days to Kansas City, and initially two daily flights (with one stop) to Denver. The flights to Denver were later cut back to once daily. Great Lakes used Beech 1900Ds.

Allegiant Air operated a short-lived service of twice-weekly flights between Manhattan and Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport from November 7, 2013, to February 23, 2014.

Accidents and incidents