Lake Charles Regional Airport
Lake Charles Regional Airport is a public use airport located five nautical miles south of the central business district of Lake Charles, a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. Owned by Calcasieu Parish, the airport serves approximately 375,000 people in the Lake Charles – Jennings combined statistical area.
The airport has two runways. They are oriented 5/23 and 15/33 and do not cross. The grounds are bounded by Lake Street to the West, Gauthier Road to the North, Highway 385 to the East, and Lincoln Road to the South. The entrance is off of Highway 385.
A new modern terminal building was officially opened to the public in 2009. Built in the Louisiana plantation architectural style, it is a two-story terminal with one concourse. In 2009, American Eagle began twice daily, nonstop regional jet service to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. American Eagle had previously served the airport with turboprop aircraft before discontinuing all flights at one point.
Facilities and aircraft
Lake Charles Regional Airport covers an area of at an elevation of 15 feet above mean sea level. It has two runways: 5/23 is 5,200 by 100 feet with an asphalt surface; 15/33 is 6,500 by 150 feet with a concrete surface.For the 12-months ending December 31, 2015, the airport had 31,961 aircraft operations, an average of 88 per day: 55 percent general aviation, 36% air taxi, 9% military and 1% scheduled passenger airlines. In August 2017, there were 93 aircraft based at this airport: 39 single-engine, 10 multi-engine, 3 jet and 41 helicopter.
A large number of helicopters are based at LCH and serve the petroleum industry in the Gulf and other purposes. A large marine spill operation is on the southwest corner of the grounds. The property also includes a 300-acre industrial park which provides land leases to many businesses and individuals.
Airlines and scheduled destinations
| Destinations map |
Historical airline service
Historically, Lake Charles was served by Eastern Air Lines beginning in the late 1940s with Martin 4-0-4 and Convair 340 twin prop "Silver Falcon" airliner flights to Houston via Beaumont/Port Arthur and also to Baton Rouge and New Orleans via Lafayette. Some eastbound flights operated by Eastern continued on with direct, no change of plane service to Atlanta, New York/Newark Airport and Boston, although a number of intermediate stops were made en route. In 1958, Eastern was operating daily round trip Convair 340 service on a routing of Brownsville - Corpus Christi - Houston Hobby Airport - Beaumont/Port Arthur - Lake Charles - Lafayette - Baton Rouge - New Orleans - Mobile - Pensacola - Montgomery - Birmingham - Atlanta. Eastern ceased all flights to Lake Charles during the mid 1960s when it withdrew its Convair 440 propliner service.Trans-Texas Airways began serving Lake Charles during the mid 1950s with Douglas DC-3 aircraft flying a routing of Lafayette - Lake Charles - Shreveport - Longview, TX - Tyler, TX - Dallas Love Field - Fort Worth. By 1959, TTa had expanded its DC-3 service with direct flights to Houston via Beaumont/Port Arthur and also direct to Jackson, MS via Alexandria and Natchez, MS. Trans-Texas then introduced Convair 240 service and in 1961 was flying nonstop to Houston and Monroe, LA as well as direct to Dallas, New Orleans, Little Rock, Memphis, San Antonio and other destinations. By the mid 1960s, Trans-Texas was serving the airport with Convair 600 turboprop flights primarily to Houston, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Trans-Texas Airways subsequently changed its name to Texas International Airlines and introduced Douglas DC-9-10 jetliner service from Lake Charles to Houston and New Orleans with direct service to Dallas/Ft. Worth. Together, TTa and TI served Lake Charles for over 25 years with aircraft as diverse as DC-3s to DC-9s.
Royale Airlines, which was a commuter air carrier based in Louisiana, served the airport with Beechcraft 99 and Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante turboprop flights to Houston and New Orleans. Following the merger of Texas International Airlines into Continental Airlines, Royale Airlines provided service for Continental via a code sharing agreement to and from Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport utilizing Grumman Gulfstream I propjets as well as Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante turboprops. This passenger feeder service for Continental to and from Houston was subsequently taken over by Continental Express which operated ATR-42 and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops. In later years, Colgan Air operating as Continental Connection and later as United Express flew Saab 340 turboprop service nonstop to Houston on behalf of Continental and then United Airlines following the merger of Continental and United.
By the late 1980s, American Eagle had begun service to Lake Charles and by the mid 1990s was operating Saab 340B turboprop service from the airport to two American Airlines hubs at the time: nonstop to Dallas/Ft. Worth with direct, one stop flights to Nashville via Gulfport, MS before ending these propjet flights. American Eagle then resumed service to Lake Charles several years later with nonstop flights to DFW.
Metro Airlines, a commuter air carrier, served Lake Charles as well with Short 330 turboprop service to Houston and also operated Eastern Express service to Houston via a code sharing agreement with Eastern Air Lines during the mid 1980s.
Current regional jet airline service
Currently, Envoy Air operating as American Eagle and ExpressJet operating as United Express both serve Lake Charles with all flights being operated by ERJ-140/ERJ-145 series regional jet aircraft. Envoy Air flies to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on behalf of American Airlines while United Express serves the United Airlines hub located at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.Statistics
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | Airline |
| 1 | George Bush Intercontinental | 41,000 | United Express |
| 2 | Dallas/Fort Worth International | 29,000 | American Eagle |