Tunica Municipal Airport

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Tunica Municipal Airport
IATA: UTM – ICAO: KUTA – FAA: UTA
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Tunica Airport Commission
Serves Tunica, Mississippi
Elevation AMSL 194 ft / 59 m
Coordinates 34°40′59″N 090°20′50″W / 34.68306°N 90.34722°W / 34.68306; -90.34722
Website www.TunicaAirport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 8,500 2,590 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 11,730
Based aircraft 15
Sources: FAA[1] and airport web site[2]

Tunica Municipal Airport (IATA: UTM, ICAO: KUTA, FAA LID: UTA, formerly M97[3]) is a public-use airport located 1 nautical mile (2 km) east of the central business district of Tunica, a town in Tunica County, Mississippi, United States.[1] It is owned by the Tunica Airport Commission.[2]

The airport is also known as Tunica Airport[2], not to be confused with the 10 acre privately-owned, public-use Tunica Airport (FAA LID: 30M) located 2 nautical miles (4 km) south of the center of town.[4]

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Tunica Municipal Airport is assigned UTA by the FAA and UTM by the IATA[5] (which assigned UTA to Mutare, Zimbabwe[6]).

Contents

[edit] History

Development and improvement of the facility, located in the southern portion of the Memphis Metropolitan Area, has increased dramatically since the 1990s. Tunica Municipal is considered as one of the multiple beneficiaries of sales tax revenue generated by the addition of casinos to the county, following approval by the Mississippi Legislature to introduce gaming houses. The growth of the Tunica Resorts region into the third largest gaming destination behind Las Vegas, Nevada and Atlantic City, New Jersey, aided efforts to expand air service beyond charter flights.

The airport opened in 2003 with a 5,500-foot runway. A $5.6 million project in 2004 extended the runway length to 7,000 feet, long enough to accommodate larger aircraft.[7]

In 2005, Tunica received its Part 130 certification to allow large jets from the Federal Aviation Administration.[8] The first large jet, a 125-passenger Boeing 737 operated by Gold Transportation for Harrah's Entertainment, landed in Tunica in November, 2005.[9] Prior to this flight, the largest flight that had landed in Tunica had 30 passengers.[10] In May 2006, Boston-Maine Airways operating as Pan Am Clipper Connection, began Tunica's first scheduled service with three Boeing 727 flights per week from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.[11] That service ended in 2006 when the airline lost its routes from Atlanta.[10]

Casino charters continue to fly into Tunica growing passenger traffic despite the loss of the Clipper Connection service. In 2007, the airport had nearly 50,000 charter passengers.[12][13] The charter traffic continued to grow with the announcement that Allegiant Airlines, would base under a contract with Harrah's Entertainment, to base two Allegiant aircraft at Tunica to ferry customers to Tunica, New Orleans, St. Louis and Council Bluffs, Iowa.[12] In 2008, total passenger traffic to Tunica was more than 70,000 people.[13]

Tunica completed $40 million project to extend the runway to 8,500 feet, extend the taxiway and build a new hangar. The airport is working on a new terminal building which is expected to be completed in 2010. The passenger terminal will replace the temporary terminal building which has been in operating since the airport opened.[13]

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Tunica Municipal Airport covers an area of 71 acres (29 ha) and has one runway designated 17/35 with an asphalt surface measuring 8,500 x 150 ft (2,590 x 46 m). For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2007, the airport had 11,730 aircraft operations, an average of 32 per day: 84% general aviation, 16% scheduled commercial and <1% military. At that time there were 15 aircraft based at this airport: 87% single-engine and 13% multi-engine.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c FAA Airport Master Record for UTA (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  2. ^ a b c Tunica Airport, official web site
  3. ^ Tunica Airport Information
  4. ^ FAA Airport Master Record for 30M (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  5. ^ Great Circle Mapper: UTM / KUTA - Tunica, Mississippi (Tunica Municipal Airport)
  6. ^ Great Circle Mapper: UTA / FVMU - Mutare, Zimbabwe
  7. ^ "Extended runway may lure low-fare carrier to Tunica". Memphis Business Journal. 2004-07-09. http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2004/07/12/story3.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-27. 
  8. ^ Rob Robertson (2005-09-29). "Airlines Closer to Tunica Reality". Memphis Commercial Appeal, printed at RedOrbit.com. http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/255472/airlines_closer_to_tunica_reality__faa_approves_30plus_passenger/. Retrieved on 2009-06-27. 
  9. ^ "First MajorAircraft for Tunica's New Airport". Press release, Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau. 2005-11-10. http://www.tunicaairport.com/PR_PDF_Files/1005.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-06-27. 
  10. ^ a b "Casinos seeking replacement for Pan Am 727 service". Associated Press, published in USA Today. 2006-10-23. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-10-23-panam-tunica_x.htm. Retrieved on 2009-06-27. 
  11. ^ "Pan Am Connection Clipper completes first flight to Tunica". Memphis Business Journal. 2006-05-01. http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2006/05/01/daily8.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-27. 
  12. ^ a b Jane Roberts (2007-12-20). "Tunica hopes for more flights". Memphis Commercial Appeal. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/dec/20/tunica-hopes-for-more-flights/. Retrieved on 2009-05-17. 
  13. ^ a b c Trey Heath (2008-05-30). "Tunica Airport ready for takeoff with funds to begin $19 million terminal construction". Memphis Business Journal. http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2008/06/02/story6.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-27. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunica_Municipal_Airport"
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