Del Norte County Airport


Del Norte County Regional Airport is a public airport three miles northwest of Crescent City, in Del Norte County, California. It has one airline flight per day to and from Oakland under the Essential Air Service program. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport.

History

The airfield was used during World War II as Crescent City Outlying Field supporting Naval Air Station Alameda and a naval radio station at Point Saint George.

Facilities and Aircraft

The airport covers 544 acres at an elevation of 61 feet. It has two asphalt runways: 11/29 is 5,000 by 150 feet and 17/35 is 5,001 by 150 feet.
In the year ending July 31, 2019; the airport had 12,565 aircraft operations, average 34 per day: 72% general aviation, 27% air taxi, and 1% military. 26 aircraft were then based at the airport: 65% single-engine and 35% multi-engine.

Historical airline service

By 1950 Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3s were flying to San Francisco, e.g. Crescent City - Eureka/Arcata - Fort Bragg/Mendocino - Ukiah - Santa Rosa - Vallejo/Napa - Oakland - San Francisco. Southwest Airways changed its name to Pacific Air Lines which in 1959 was flying DC-3s or Martin 4-0-4s Crescent City - Eureka/Arcata - San Francisco; Crescent City - Eureka/Arcata - Ukiah - Santa Rosa - San Francisco; or Crescent City - Eureka/Arcata - Redding - Red Bluff - Chico - Marysville/Yuba City - Sacramento - San Francisco. Also, nonstop between Crescent City and Medford, Oregon. By 1964 Pacific Air Lines was flying Fairchild F-27s and Martin 4-0-4s to Crescent City on similar multi-stop routings to San Francisco and nonstop to Portland. In 1968 Pacific Air Lines merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West which changed its name to Hughes Airwest in 1970. All Air West flights to the airport in 1968 were Fairchild F-27s. In 1972 Hughes Airwest F-27s flew San Francisco - Eureka/Arcata - Crescent City - North Bend, Oregon - Corvallis, Oregon - Portland, Oregon - Astoria, Oregon - Tacoma, Washington - Seattle. By 1980 Hughes Airwest was no longer serving the airport as it had retired its F-27s.
Several commuter airlines served the airport. In 1976 Eureka Aero Industries was flying nonstop to Eureka/Arcata continuing to Eureka's Murray Field airport with Cessna 402s. WestAir was serving the airport by the early 1980s and in 1985 was flying Cessna 402s nonstop to Eureka/Arcata and on to Sacramento. WestAir also offered connecting service via either Eureka/Arcata or Sacramento to San Francisco. WestAir became a United Express airline via a code sharing agreement with United Airlines and in 1994 was flying BAe Jetstream 31s Crescent City - Eureka/Arcata - Sacramento - San Francisco several times a day. In the late 1990s, WestAir was replaced by SkyWest Airlines which in 1999 was operating as United Express from the airport with nonstop and direct Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias to San Francisco International Airport.
In 2007 SkyWest operating as United Express was continuing to fly Embraer EMB-120s nonstop to both San Francisco and Eureka/Arcata with direct one-stop flights to Sacramento. SkyWest ended all United Express service into Crescent City in 2015. From August 2017, the only remaining passenger airline service, flown by PenAir with Saab 340s via a code sharing agreement with Alaska Airlines, operated nonstop to the Portland International Airport in Oregon. This service ended after PenAir filed for bankruptcy.

New airline jet service

On February 28, 2018 Contour Airlines announced it would begin flying an Embraer ERJ-135 regional jet between Crescent City and Oakland with service which began on April 11, 2018. This new service marked the first time Crescent City has had scheduled passenger airline flights operated with a jet aircraft.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

RankCityAirport name & IATA codePassengers
1Oakland, CAOakland International Airport9,120

Year20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Enplanements12,54111,49014,34114,88712,54712,13613,7014,9158,6676,8025,907
Change8.42%8.38%24.81%3.81%15.72%3.28%12.90%64.13%76.34%21.52%13.16%
AirlineSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressSkyWest Airlines dba United ExpressPenAirPenAirContour Airlines
DestinationArcata-Eureka
----San Francisco		Arcata-Eureka
----San Francisco		Arcata-Eureka
----San Francisco		Arcata-Eureka
----San Francisco		Arcata-Eureka
----San Francisco		San FranciscoSan FranciscoSan FranciscoPortlandPortlandOakland
AircraftEmbraer 120 BrasiliaEmbraer 120 BrasiliaEmbraer 120 BrasiliaEmbraer 120 BrasiliaEmbraer 120 BrasiliaEmbraer 120 BrasiliaEmbraer 120 BrasiliaEmbraer 120 BrasiliaSaab 340Saab 340Embraer 135
Subsidy$957,025$957,025$957,025$1,136,896$1,136,896$1,996,959$1,996,959$2,454,084$3,506,231$2,951,831$3,310,503