Kirksville Regional Airport

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Kirksville Regional Airport
IRK logo.png
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCity of Kirksville
Serves Kirksville, Missouri, US
Location Pettis Township, near Millard
Elevation  AMSL 966 ft / 294 m
Coordinates 40°05′36″N092°32′42″W / 40.09333°N 92.54500°W / 40.09333; -92.54500
Website www.kirksvillecity.com/p/airport
Map
USA Missouri relief location map.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
IRK
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IRK
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
ftm
18/366,0051,830Concrete
9/271,370418Turf
Statistics (2023)
Aircraft operations (year ending 4/30/2023)5,888
Based aircraft20

Kirksville Regional Airport( IATA : IRK, ICAO : KIRK, FAA LID : IRK) is a city-owned public-use airport located four miles south of Kirksville, Missouri, on the west side of U.S. Highway 63. [2] It serves both commercial flights and general aviation. One airline provides scheduled passenger flights, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

Contents

Contour Airlines serves Kirksville with 12 weekly flights to Chicago O'Hare International Airport using CRJ100/200 and Embraer 135/145 regional jets. Contour began its Kirksville service on August 1, 2023, [3] and offers either one or two round trips each day between Kirksville and Chicago. [4] Contour has interline agreements with American Airlines, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines, which facilitate passenger bookings and connections on itineraries that include flights operated by those carriers. [5]

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the airport had 5,611 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2024, [6] an increase of 31% from 2023 when there were 4,281 enplanements. [7] The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2025-2029 categorized it as a regional facility with non-primary commercial service (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year). [8]

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 17, 2025, to mark the start of construction of a new 6,500 square foot terminal at Kirksville, which will be nearly double the size of the current building. [9] Completion of the project is planned for July 2026. [10]

Clarence Cannon Memorial Terminal at Kirksville Regional Airport. Kirksville Regional Airport 1.jpg
Clarence Cannon Memorial Terminal at Kirksville Regional Airport.
Sign Depicting New Terminal Design New Airport Terminal sign.jpg
Sign Depicting New Terminal Design

History

In 1924, Roy B. "Cap" Dodson started the first airport in the area, located on the north edge of Kirksville. However, an airfield at the present location of Kirksville Regional Airport wasn't created until 1930 when the federal government built a series of emergency landing strips across the nation. [11]

With America's entry into World War II, the Kirksville Municipal Airport (as it had been declared in the late 1930s) received a major upgrade from the Civilian Pilot Training Program, later renamed the War Training Service. [11] In 1942 a paved all-weather landing strip, hangars, a tower, and a small restaurant were built. [12] [13]

On October 1, 1960, Ozark Air Lines began scheduled flights to Kirksville. The initial Ozark route flew between Kansas City and Chicago with stops in Kirksville, Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Moline, Ill. [14] Later in the 1960s, Ozark switched Kirksville service from a Kansas City-Chicago route to a Des Moines-to-St. Louis one. [15] [16] [17]

Airport improvements came after a bond issue was approved by Kirksville voters in November 1967. A new six-thousand-foot concrete runway was built, as well as a new terminal building and improved hangar facilities. The longer runway was needed for the faster Fairchild FH-227B prop-jets that Ozark began using for its Kirksville flights, in place of Douglas DC-3's. With the airport improvements came a new name, Clarence Cannon Memorial Airport—chosen to honor long-time U.S. Congressman Clarence Cannon of Missouri who had done much to help secure air service and funding for the airport. [18] That name was retained until the Kirksville Regional name was adopted in 1984, and the terminal building was named after Rep. Cannon. [11]

Ozark flew its final route to Kirksville on April 23, 1976. [19] Fortunately a local pilot and dentist, Dr. Stephen Barber, had established a small commuter air service, Horizon Airways, in 1972. Horizon was able to help fill the void left by Ozark's departure, eventually expanding by 1976 to offer service to both Kansas City and St. Louis, and changing its name to Air Missouri. [20] [21] [22]

From 1978 to 1987, Kirksville was served by Green Hills Aviation with commuter flights to St. Louis. [23] [24] From 1987 through December 1989, Midcontinent Airlines flew to Kansas City as Braniff Express on behalf of Braniff (1983-1990). [25] [26] Kirksville then went without commercial service during 1990 until Redwing Airways began commuter flights to Kansas City, which continued until October 2001. [27]

From 2001 through 2006 Corporate Airlines, which later became RegionsAir, provided flights to St. Louis. The carrier first operated as Trans World Express on behalf of TWA, [28] then as American Connection on behalf of American Airlines. [29]

Air Midwest (operating as US Airways Express), a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, provided flights to Kansas City from November 2006 through May 2008. [30] [31] Kirksville went without service until August 2008, when Air Choice One began scheduled flight operations twice daily, to and from St. Louis. [32]

In September, 2010 Cape Air replaced Air Choice One with service to St. Louis that continued until 2023, providing three daily round trips. [33] [34] In October 2022, Cape Air notified Kirksville of its plans to terminate service unless its contract was renegotiated. However, the airline was still required to continue its flights until the city selected a replacement. [35]

The Kirksville City Council approved a contract on February 6, 2023 with Contour Airlines, with 12 flights per week to Chicago O'Hare International Airport using regional jet aircraft. This is the first scheduled jet service to Kirksville. [36]

Scheduled operations are currently subsidized by the federal Essential Air Service program. [37]

Facilities

The airport covers 476 acres (193 ha) at an elevation of 966 feet (294 m). It has two runways: 18/36 is 6,005 by 100 feet (1,830 x 30 m) concrete; 9/27 is 1,370 by 100 feet (418 x 30 m) turf. [1] An instrument landing system (ILS) was installed for Runway 36 in 2007. [38]

In the year ending April 30, 2023 the airport had 5,888 aircraft operations, average 113 per week: 50% general aviation, 37% airline, 12% air taxi, and <1% military. 20 aircraft were then based at the airport: 17 single-engine, 2 multi-engine, and 1 jet. [1]

Airline and destination

AirlinesDestinationsRefs.
Contour Airlines Chicago–O'Hare [39]

Statistics

Passenger boardings (enplanements) by year, per FAA and airport data [40]
Year2015 [41] 2016 [42] 2017 [43] 2018 [44] 2019 [45] 2020 [46] 2021 [47] 2022 [48] 2023 [49] 2024 [50]
Enplanements5,1674,7335,1525,3065,2442,9054,0994,6674,2815,611
ChangeDecrease2.svg8.3%Decrease2.svg8.4%Increase2.svg8.9%Increase2.svg3.0%Decrease2.svg1.2%Decrease2.svg44.6%Increase2.svg41.1%Increase2.svg13.9%Decrease2.svg8.3%Increase2.svg31.1%
Airline Cape Air Cape Air Cape Air Cape Air Cape Air Cape Air Cape Air Cape Air Cape Air
Contour
Contour
Destination(s) St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis
Chicago
Chicago

Incidents

The emergency landing strip at the Kirksville airport’s future site also played an indirect role in a 1935 crash that impacted U.S. aviation history. On May 6, 1935, TWA Flight 6, a Douglas DC-2, crashed near Barnesville, Mo., while trying to reach the emergency strip. The crash killed five of the 13 people on board, including U.S. Sen. Bronson M. Cutting of New Mexico. His death led Congress to examine the management of U.S. civil aviation under the Bureau of Air Commerce – a political battle that led to the establishment in 1938 of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, a predecessor of the FAA. [58] [59]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 FAA Airport Form 5010 for IRK PDF . Federal Aviation Administration. Effective August 10, 2023.
  2. City of Kirksville. "Airport". www.kirksvillecity.com. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  3. Todorovich, Nik and Garlock, John (2023-08-01). "Contour Airlines makes inaugural flight from Kirksville Regional". KTVO. Retrieved 2025-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. City of Kirksville. "Flight Schedule". kirksvillecity.com. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
  5. Department of Transportation (July 3, 2024). "Corporate Flight Management Inc. dba Contour Airlines (Proposal)". Regulations.gov. Retrieved March 25, 2025.
  6. Federal Aviation Administration (2025-05-29). "Preliminary CY2024 Enplanements at U.S. Airports, by State" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  7. "Final CY23 All Enplanements at U.S. Airports by State" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2024.
  8. "NPIAS, 2025-2029, Appendix A: List of NPIAS Airports, updated October 2024" (PDF, 2.03 MB). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. September 30, 2024.
  9. Woolpert Inc. (June 14, 2024). "Addendum No. 2 to Contract Documents, Specifications and Plans for Improvements to the Kirksville Regional Airport" (PDF). modot.org. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  10. KTVO News Desk (2025-03-19). "Kirksville breaks ground on new airport terminal set to open in summer 2026". KTVO. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
  11. 1 2 3 City of Kirksville. "General Aviation". kirksvillecity.com. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  12. Burk, Samuel A., "Communication and Transportation," in A Book of Adair County History, Kirksville-Adair County Bicentennial Committee, 1976, pp. 281-83.
  13. Frost, Tony and Pritchard, Corey, 'Flying High!', in The Chariton Collector magazine, Vol. 7, no. 1, Winter 1986, pp. 26-28.
  14. Burk, in Adair County History 1976, pp. 282-83
  15. Burk, in Adair County History 1976, p. 283
  16. Frost and Pritchard, in The Chariton Collector, pp. 26-27.
  17. "Ozark Air Lines (1)". timetableimages.com. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
  18. Burk, in Adair County History 1976, pp. 282-83
  19. Burk, in Adair County History 1976, p. 283
  20. Burk, in Adair County History 1976, p. 283
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  27. Department of Transportation (May 9, 1997). "97-5-9 Order Tentatively Selecting Carrier and Setting Final Rates". www.regulations.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  28. Department of Transportation (October 27, 2000). "2000-10-33 Order Selecting Carrier and Setting Final Rate". www.regulations.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  29. Department of Tranportation (January 16, 2003). "2003-1-13 Order Setting Interim Subsidy Rates". www.regulations.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  30. "Kirksville/Kansas City Flights to Begin Nov. 5". newsletter.truman.edu. October 24, 2006. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  31. "Air Midwest to Shut Down Passenger Operations". www.aviationpros.com. May 14, 2008. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
  32. "Air Choice One begins offering flights to St. Louis - Kirksville, MO …". archive.ph. 2011-07-13. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  33. Chierek, Kevin (2010-09-17). "New regional air provider takes flight". KTVO. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
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  37. Department of Transportation (October 1, 2024). "Subsidized Essential Air Service Communities" (PDF). transportation.gov. Retrieved April 2, 2025.
  38. "City of Kirksville 2014 Comprehensive Plan" (PDF). kirksvillecity.com. March 1, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  39. "Contour Airlines August 2023 Chicago Network Expansion". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
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  42. "Commercial Service Airports (Rank Order) 10/5/2017 based on Calendar Year 2016 Enplanements" (PDF, 891 KB). CY 2016 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data]. Federal Aviation Administration. October 5, 2017.
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  44. "Calendar Year 2018 Final Revenue Enplanements at All Airports" (PDF). CY 2018 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data]. Federal Aviation Administration. December 20, 2019.
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  48. "Final CY22 All Enplanements at U.S. Airports, by State" (PDF). www.faa.gov. September 1, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2025.
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Other sources