Elko Regional Airport

For the airport in British Columbia, Canada, see Elko Airport.
Elko Regional Airport
J.C. Harris Field

Elko Regional Airport terminal
IATA: EKO – ICAO: KEKO – FAA LID: EKO
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner City of Elko
Serves Elko, Nevada
Elevation AMSL 5,140 ft / 1,567 m
Coordinates 40°49′30″N 115°47′30″W / 40.82500°N 115.79167°W / 40.82500; -115.79167Coordinates: 40°49′30″N 115°47′30″W / 40.82500°N 115.79167°W / 40.82500; -115.79167
Website www.flyelkonevada.com
Map
EKO

Location in Nevada

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
6/24 7,455 2,272 Asphalt
12/30 2,871 875 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Aircraft operations 20,151
Based aircraft 79
FAA diagram

Elko Regional Airport (IATA: EKO, ICAO: KEKO, FAA LID: EKO), formerly Elko Municipal Airport, is an airport located about one mile west of downtown Elko, in Elko County, Nevada.[1]

The airport was named J.C. Harris Field in 1975 in honor of Jess C. Harris, a sheriff from Elko known as "The Flying Sheriff".[2]

History

On April 6, 1926, when it was called Elko Airport, the airfield was the terminus for the first scheduled air mail run in the United States, flown by Varney Air Lines.[3] Varney was the predecessor of United Air Lines.

As early as 1931, Elko was an en route stop on a transcontinental passenger service route operated by United Airlines between New York City and San Francisco.[4] According to the June 15, 1931 United system timetable, a Ford Trimotor aircraft was used on this service with a routing of New York City - Cleveland - Toledo - Chicago - Iowa City - Des Moines - Omaha - Lincoln - North Platte - Cheyenne - Rock Springs - Salt Lake City - Elko - Reno - Sacramento - San Francisco. Flying time between New York and San Francisco on this route was stated in the timetable as being 31 hours westbound and 28 hours eastbound. United later served Elko with Boeing 247, Douglas DC-3 and Convair 340 twin engine prop aircraft. By 1977, United was flying Boeing 737-200 jetliners into Elko operating a daily round trip routing of San Francisco - Reno - Elko - Ely - Salt Lake City with this jet service lasting until 1982 when the airline ceased all flights into the airport. This latter route was also United's last piston powered service operated with a Douglas DC-6.[5] According to the April 27, 1969 United system timetable, the airline was operating DC-6 service on an eastbound routing of San Francisco - Oakland - Reno - Elko - Ely - Salt Lake City. This service then flew westbound back to San Francisco on the same routing but without the stop in Oakland. This was the only DC-6 operation in the entire United system at the time according to their timetable as the airline had essentially become an all-jet air carrier by 1969 with the exception of this one round trip flight. United then replaced their DC-6 flights with Convair 580 turboprop service operated by Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) via a subcontract arrangement with these flights using the "UA" airline code[6] before introducing Boeing 737 service. United served Elko for over 50 years.

Casino Express Airlines served the airport with Boeing 737-200s and was based in Elko. This airline supported the local casino industry and operated what were essentially scheduled charter flights from Elko to many U.S. cities starting in the late 1980s. In 1994, Casino Express was operating scheduled weekend only flights nonstop between Elko and Portland, OR and Seattle with McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners.[7] Casino Express eventually changed its name to Xtra Airways which in turn later ended all jet service into Elko.

Another air carrier that operated jet service into the airport was Royal West Airlines flying British Aerospace BAe 146-200 aircraft with a daily nonstop to Las Vegas in 1987.[8]

SkyWest Airlines began serving Elko as an independent commuter air carrier during the early 1980s operating Swearingen Metro propjets with service to Reno, Salt Lake City and Ely.[9] By the late 1980s, SkyWest was serving the airport as Western Express on behalf of Western Airlines via code sharing agreement with flights primarily to Salt Lake City operated with Metro aircraft.[10] Following the merger of Western into Delta Air Lines, SkyWest became a Delta Connection air carrier via a code sharing agreement with Delta and in 1989 was operating Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia propjet flights to Salt Lake City in addition to Metro service.[11] SkyWest continues to currently serve the airport as a Delta Connection air carrier and at the present time is the only airline serving Elko.

Facilities

Elko Regional Airport covers 700 acres (280 ha) and has two asphalt runways: 5/23 measuring 7,214 x 150 ft (2,199 x 46 m) and 12/30 measuring 2,871 x 60 ft (875 x 18 m).[1]

In the year ending August 31, 2007 the airport had 16,520 aircraft operations, average 45 per day: 73% general aviation, 27% air taxi and <1% military. 69 aircraft were then based at this airport: 77% single-engine, 10% multi-engine, 6% jet and 7% helicopter.[1]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Delta Connection Salt Lake City

SkyWest operating as Delta Connection flies Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets between Elko and Delta Air Lines' hub at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from EKO
(Dec 2013 - Nov 2014)[12]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Salt Lake City, Utah 14,000 Delta Connection

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Master Record for EKO (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2016-09-15
  2. ↑ Air Mail Pioneers: Jess C. Harris
  3. ↑ "Elko Airport". Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, June 15, 1931 United Airlines system timetable.
  5. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, April 27, 1969 United Airlines system timetable
  6. ↑ North American Official Airline Guide (OAG), February 1, 1976 edition
  7. ↑ Sept. 15, 1994 OAG Desktop Flight Guide, North American Edition, Elko, NV (EKO) flight schedules
  8. ↑ April 1, 1987 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Elko, NV flight schedules
  9. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, April 24, 1983 SkyWest Airlines route map
  10. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, March 1, 1987 Western Airlines route map including Western Express routes
  11. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, Dec. 15, 1989 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Salt Lake City-Elko flight schedules
  12. ↑
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