Garden City Regional Airport
Garden City Regional Airport is nine miles southeast of Garden City, in Finney County, Kansas. It is served by one scheduled airline, subsidized by the federal government's Essential Air Service program at a cost of $2,919,026.
The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport. Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 11,453 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 10,014 in 2009, and 10,155 in 2010.
History
During World War II the United States Army Air Forces used Garden City Airport as a training airfield by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, Gulf Coast Training Center. The facility was called Garden City Army Airfield.The main Garden City Army Airfield and its auxiliaries closed in November 1945 and were declared excess by the military on 18 May 1947. Civil authorities developed the main airfield into Garden City Regional Airport.
Continental DC-3s landed at GCK from about 1946 until replaced by Central in 1961; successor Frontier's Convairs left around 1970. Earlier, Continental had landed at the old municipal airport three miles east of town.
Garden City Regional Airport's status as former Garden City AAF made it important during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When orders were dispatched to ground all domestic flights, three large jets were told to land at GCRA, the closest airport large enough for them. The airport had no stairs for large airliners and the passengers had to be evacuated by Garden City Fire Department ladder trucks.
In December 2011 the EAS program awarded American Eagle Airlines two daily non-stop flights to Dallas-Fort Worth.
Facilities
The airport covers 1,848 acres at an elevation of 2,891 feet. It has two concrete runways: 17/35 is 7,300 by 100 feet and 12/30 is 5,700 by 100 feet.In the year ending August 31, 2010 the airport had 17,260 aircraft operations, average 47 per day: 60% general aviation, 31% airline, and 9% military. 47 aircraft were then based at the airport: 83% single-engine and 17% multi-engine.
Airline and destination
Statistics
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | Airline |
| 1 | Dallas/Fort Worth International | 27,000 | American |