Ithaca Tompkins International Airport is a county-owned

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located in the Town of

Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...

, three miles northeast of Ithaca, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and only city in Tompkins County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2025–2029 categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' facility.

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

records say the airport had 60,848 passenger boardings in 2023. Nonstop scheduled commercial commuter-jet service is available to

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...

and

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport ( ) – commonly known by its former name of Dulles International Airport, by its airport code of IAD, or simply as Dulles Airport – is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located w ...

History

The original Ithaca Municipal Airport was west of downtown Ithaca, near the inlet of

Cayuga Lake Cayuga Lake (, or ) is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area (marginally smaller than Seneca Lake) and second largest in volume. It is just under long. Its average width is , and i ...

. The site was identified as a likely flying field in 1914 by pilot Charles Niles, who considered relocating to Ithaca to establish a practice field. In December 1914, the Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Co. relocated to Ithaca and in 1915 established a flying school using the lake and a field near the inlet. Established prior to 1916, Ithaca Municipal Airport is believed to be the second airport to be established in New York state. The airport initially had two sod runways, but by 1937 it had a north/south asphalt runway and a turf landing strip. The turf runway was no longer in official guidebooks by 1940. Due to its lakeshore location, the airport also provided a dock and anchorage for

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

s. Bound by the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad in the Northeastern United States built predominantly to haul anthracite, anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to major consumer markets in Philadelphia, New York City, and ...

freight yards on the south side, the Cayuga Lake marshes on the north side and

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

in the lake valley, the growth potential for the airport was limited. The former airport site is now Cass Park, including a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

which was renovated in 1975 to house the

Hangar Theatre The Hangar Theatre is a non-profit, regional theatre located at 801 Taughannock Boulevard in Ithaca, NY. Its mainstage season and children's shows occur during the summer, but the Hangar, and other organizations, utilize the space year-round for sp ...

. In 1946,

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and the city of Ithaca began planning for a new airport on East Hill on the university-owned land in Lansing, New York. East Hill Airport opened in 1948 with Robinson Airlines as its primary tenant. On July 1, 1956, the 23 parcels of land that made up the airport were conveyed by Cornell University to Tompkins County for the sum of $324,500 (). At that point, East Hill Airport was renamed Tompkins County Airport; it later was renamed Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport. The original municipal airport was the base for

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

pioneer Cecil Robinson's

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

missions. In 1945, shortly after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he created Robinson Airlines at the municipal airport before transferring operations to the new East Hill Airport in 1948. Scheduled DC-3 flights to East Hill began in 1948; the airline changed its name to

Mohawk Airlines Mohawk Airlines was a local service carrier operating in the Mid-Atlantic states, Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, mainly in New York and Pennsylvania, from the mid-1940s until its acquisition by Allegheny Airlines in 1972. At its hei ...

in 1952 and merged with Allegheny Airlines in 1972. Later, the airport was served by Empire Airlines and Air North; the latter became Brockway Air, which merged into

Piedmont Airlines Piedmont Airlines, Inc. ( ) is an American regional airline headquartered at the Salisbury Regional Airport in Wicomico County, Maryland, near the Salisbury, Maryland, city of Salisbury. The airline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American ...

. Allegheny, Piedmont and Empire all eventually merged into

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

, which later merged into

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

. Other carriers included Commuter Airlines, Mall Airways, Command Airways (later operating under the name American Eagle), Ransome Airlines (also operating under the name TW Express,

United Express United Express is a regional airline network that supports United Airlines operations, primarily by serving smaller cities and connecting traffic to United's main hubs. Representing six percent of United's total capacity for 2024, United Express ...

) and

Continental Express Continental Express was the brand name used by a number of independently owned regional airlines providing commuter airliner and regional jet feeder service under agreement with Continental Airlines. In 2010 at the time of Continental's merger ...

. Another aviation pioneer, Ruth Carol Taylor, was the first African-American flight attendant in American commercial aviation history. Her first flight was a

flight departing Ithaca on February 11, 1958.

Expansion

In 1994, a new, , $11-million terminal opened, replacing the cramped original building. Simultaneously, the runway was extended from to ; the runway was subsequently extended in 2009 to its present as part of a runway-safety extension project that added of additional takeoff pavement to Runway 14. Runway 32 has an instrument landing system and a medium-intensity approach light system with runway alignment lights. Runway 14 has an instrument approach based on the VOR/DME at the airport. A short turf runway was commissioned parallel to the paved runway, but during the 1980s a north–south turf runway was west of the terminal building, about long and wide. Airline traffic peaked in 1990 at 226,813 passengers, but by the end of the decade the small size of the market and proximity to

Syracuse Hancock International Airport Syracuse Hancock International Airport is a joint civil–military airport northeast of downtown Syracuse, New York. Operated by the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority, it is located off Interstate 81, near Mattydale. The main terminal comp ...

and other regional airports led

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

and finally

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

to leave. In 2001, the airport renamed itself the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, replacing its former moniker: the Tompkins County Airport. In late 2004, after negotiations with the county,

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it Delta Air Lines–Northwest Airlines merger, merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline ...

agreed to add

Northwest Airlink Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium- ...

service to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, which began on May 2, 2005. US Airways nonstops to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, a focus city, resumed on November 9, 2005, but ended on April 1, 2006, due to low yield. Passenger traffic has improved with the additional service; the airport served about 140,000 passengers in 2004, increasing to around 170,000 in 2007. On October 6, 2008, Continental Connection resumed service between Ithaca and

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

with four daily flights. In 2011, the airport served 242,493 passengers on three airlines. In 2009, Regional Elite Airline Services took over ground-handling duties from

Mesaba Airlines Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (operating as Mesaba Airlines) was a regional airline in the United States that operated from 1944 until it merged with Pinnacle Airlines in 2012 to form Endeavor Air. It was based in Eagan, Minnesota From 2010 to 2012, the ...

for the Delta Connection flights to Detroit. As of November, 2012, all ground-handling for Delta and United Airlines was handled by DAL Global Services. Starting on March 24, 2012,

US Airways Express US Airways Express was the brand name for the regional affiliate of US Airways, under which a number of individually owned commuter air carriers and regional airlines operate short and medium haul routes. This code sharing service was previously ...

ended all service between Ithaca and New York–LaGuardia as part of a slot-exchange deal with Delta. The 2013 Federal sequester did not result in the closure of the airport's

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled a ...

. The U.S. Department of Transportation restored the funding needed to support the continued operation of the Ithaca airport control tower. In 2014, Robert Nichols, who had been the airport's general manager since 1990, retired. On September 12, 2017, the airport announced that it had been awarded $2.4 million in grants from the FAA to rehabilitate the general aviation tarmac, add new perimeter fencing and lighting and build a second passenger boarding bridge. Simultaneously,

announced that it was upgrading its Ithaca to Newark service from 37-seat Dash 8 turboprop aircraft to 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 commuter-jet aircraft, meaning that all commercial passenger flights to and from Ithaca would be aboard jet aircraft. On May 3, 2018, New York State Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( , ; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, ...

announced (at the airport) a new $22 million project to double the size of the 25-year-old airport terminal, adding six new gates, three new

jet bridges A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...

and a customs facility to allow international air travel to Ithaca, as well as expanded office space for the

Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within and connecting to the United States. It was created ...

and the serving airlines. Cuomo returned to Ithaca on October 16, 2018, to help break-ground for the newly renamed "Ithaca-Tompkins International Airport." At groundbreaking, the total cost was expected to be $24.7 million, and the renovated terminal would include a restaurant and bar. The addition was designed by architecture firm C&S Companies. On July 12, 2018, the airport announced that

would start nonstop service to Charlotte, North Carolina, with one weekly flight on Saturdays beginning in December, 2018 (operating daily as of March 2022). At the same time, United Airlines announced the cancellation of its service to Newark, replacing it with a nonstop to Washington-Dulles International Airport effective October 4 (canceled on March 2, 2022). The second phase of construction began in the spring of 2019 and was completed on December 20, 2019. Construction costs had increased to $14.2 million in state funding, $10 million in federal funding and $10.6 million from Tompkins County: $34.8 million. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, flights to and from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

were dropped in September, 2020.

Facilities

The airport covers at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of . It has two runways: 14/32 is

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

and 15/33 is

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

. In 2011 the airport had 41,286 aircraft operations, average 113 per day: 77%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

, 23%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

, <1% military, and <1% airline. 57 aircraft were then based at the airport: 77% single-engine, 9% multi-engine, and 14% jet.

uses the two-class Bombardier CRJ550 between ITH and Newark International Airport (EWR).

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a brand name under which Delta Air Lines has air service agreements with domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to their network by serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities in the domestic mark ...

uses the Bombardier CRJ900 between ITH and John F. Kennedy International Airport/JFK.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Statistics

Top destinations

Top airlines

Ground transportation

Bus

TCAT Route 32 travels to

and downtown Ithaca (Ithaca Commons) seven days a week.

Rental Cars

Several car rental companies have a presence on the airport.

Taxi

Taxi are available at the airport.

References

External links

*
Ithaca Tompkins Regional (ITH)
at New York State DOT Airport Directory
Aerial image as of March 1995
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a Collaboration, collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the eff ...

'' * * * {{Ithaca, New York Airports in New York (state) Transportation in Tompkins County, New York Buildings and structures in Tompkins County, New York