Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Tri Cities Regional Airport

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Airport type
  
Public

5/23
  
8,000

Elevation
  
463 m

Serves
  
Tri-Cities

Elevation AMSL
  
1,519 ft / 463 m

Code
  
TRI

Phone
  
+1 423-325-6000

Tri-Cities Regional Airport

Owner
  
Tri-Cities Airport Authority

Location
  
Blountville, Tennessee, U.S.

Address
  
2525 TN-75, Blountville, TN 37617, USA

Profiles

Tri-Cities Airport (IATA: TRI, ICAO: KTRI, FAA LID: TRI) (also known as Tri-Cities Airport, TN/VA), is in Blountville, Tennessee and serves the Tri-Cities area (Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City) of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The airport is governed by the Tri-Cities Airport Authority (TCAA) whose members are appointed by the cities of Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol (TN), Bristol (VA) and both Washington County (TN) and Sullivan County.

Contents

Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 202,730 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 217,783 in 2009 and 202,114 in 2010. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).

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History

In the mid-1930s Johnson City’s airfield and Kingsport’s airstrip were deemed not practical for expansion. Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport cooperated with Sullivan County to build an airport on 323 acres in Sullivan County, between the three cities. In September 1937 two small runways, a terminal building, and aircraft hangar had been built and the airport saw its first airliner, an American Airlines DC-2. On November 5, 1937 McKellar Field, now known as Tri-Cities Regional Airport TN/VA, was dedicated by Senator Kenneth McKellar.

American Airlines pulled out in 1952. Piedmont Airlines flew to TRI from 1948 until it merged into USAir; Capital Airlines and successor United Airlines stopped at TRI from the 1940s until 1977 when Allegheny Airlines replaced them. Southern Airways appeared in 1960. The first jets were Piedmont Boeing 727-100s and Southern Douglas DC-9-10s in 1967; by 1977 Piedmont was operating a Boeing 737-200 nonstop to New York City LaGuardia Airport.

In January 2008 a quick service restaurant, Tailwind Express, was added in the post-security area of the airport along with the Tailwind Restaurant and Lounge in the pre-security area. In April 2012 the airport broke ground on a $10 million project that would lengthen a taxiway and move a road farther away from the airport, opening 140 acres for future development.

Facilities

Tri-Cities Airport covers 1,250 acres (506 ha) at an elevation of 1,519 feet (463 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt runways: 5/23 is 8,000 by 150 feet (2,438 x 46 m) and 9/27 is 4,442 by 150 feet (1,354 x 46 m).

For the year ending March 31, 2014 the airport had 46,484 aircraft operations, an average of 127 per day: 72% general aviation, 25% air taxi, 2% airline and 1% military. In March 2017, there were 60 aircraft based at this airport: 20 single-engine, 22 multi-engine, 13 jet and 5 helicopter.

References

Tri-Cities Regional Airport Wikipedia