Williamson County Regional Airport (IATA: MWA, ICAO: KMWA) is a public airport located four miles (6 km) west of the central business district (CBD) of Marion, a city in Williamson County, Illinois, USA. The airport covers 1,300 acres (526 ha) and has two runways. It is mostly used for general aviation, although it has scheduled service to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport operated by American Airlines partner[1] Cape Air using Essential Air Service subsidies.
On November 6, 2006, Mesa Airlines announced that new service to Chicago Midway International Airport would begin in February 2007 operated by their wholly owned subsidiary, Air Midwest, with service to Decatur Airport in Decatur, Illinois, and continuing service on to Chicago Midway International Airport as a direct flight. However, just nine months after starting the service, Mesa announced they would end all service from Marion on November 9, 2007.
On October 23, 2007, Allegiant Air announced new service to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. Service was to start on February 1, 2008, and be 2x weekly, however Allegiant dropped the route on November 9, 2007, citing high fuel prices. [2]
Essential Air Service service was previously operated by Great Lakes Airlines.
[edit] Airlines and destinations
| Airlines |
Destinations |
| Cape Air |
St. Louis |
[edit] General Aviation
Williamson County Regional Airport has one FBO, Aeroflite, located at the base of the control tower on the general aviation ramp. Aeroflite offers flight training, 100LL and Jet A fuel, charter service, a pilot courtesy car, and rental cars. Currently Aeroflite has three rental aircraft, a Cessna 150 (N50475), a Cessna 172 (N7573G), and a Piper Warrior II (N2875X). Aeroflite charter operations are conducted in a Piper Navajo Chieftain.
[edit] Incidents
- July 23, 1973: Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 between Nashville International Airport and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport had intermediate stops in Clarksville, Tennessee, Paducah, Kentucky, Cape Girardeau, Missouri and Marion-Williamson County Airport before arriving in St. Louis in the midst of a tornado warning. The plane crashed on the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis killing 38 of the 44 aboard.[3]
- December 21, 1978: TWA Flight 541 from Louisville International Airport to Kansas City International Airport was hijacked by 17-year-old Robin Oswald to Williamson in attempt to secure the release of Garrett Brock Trapnell who was serving time at United States Penitentiary, Marion for the January 28, 1972 hijacking of TWA Flight 2 from Los Angeles to New York. Oswald's mother Barbara Oswald was killed May 24, 1978, after hijacking a helicopter in an attempt to rescue him (and Martin J. McNally who was serving time for the June 23, 1972 hijacking of a St. Louis-Tulsa American Airlines flight). Robin surrendered after 10 hours of at the Williamson airport.[4][5]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.whig.com/story/news/Code-share-103009
- ^ Allegiant to begin flights to LAS
- ^ http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19730723-1
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=X5-ngmwEdeQC&pg=PA193&dq=%22Robin+Oswald%22&hl=en&ei=YDoGTsm1IIf40gH3qOjcCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Robin%20Oswald%22&f=false
- ^ http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_1aac5de6-6eb4-5245-a126-7adf324d5eb2.html
[edit] External links
- Resources for this airport:
