Vernal Regional Airport is a mile southeast of

Vernal Vernal, the county seat and largest city in Uintah County is in northeastern Utah, approximately east of Salt Lake City and west of the Colorado border. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,089. The population has since grown to ...

, in

Uintah County, Utah Uintah County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 35,620. Its county seat and largest city is Vernal. The county was named for the portion of the Ute Indian tribe that lived in th ...

. It is owned by the city and county and sees one airline, subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

program.

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

records say the airport had 5,474 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 3,805 in 2009 and 4,461 in 2010. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''non-primary commercial service'' airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year).

History

The original

Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

served Vernal for over 30 years. In 1950 Frontier Douglas DC-3s flew nonstop to Salt Lake City and Rock Springs and direct to Denver, Billings, Casper, Laramie and Cheyenne. By 1967 Frontier

Convair 580 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

s flew nonstop to Salt Lake City and direct to Denver.http://www.timetableimages.com, Oct. 29, 1967 Frontier timetable Frontier then flew a Convair 580 Salt Lake City-Vernal-Moab-Grand Junction-Farmington-Gallup-Albuquerque-Silver City-Tucson-Phoenix. Frontier served Vernal until the early 1980s with Convair 580s nonstop to Salt Lake City and direct to Denver; Frontier left Vernal by 1982. Prior to Frontier's service, a

Challenger Airlines Challenger Airlines was a United States airline incorporated in Wyoming, December 31, 1941, by Charles W. Hirsig II, as Summit Airways Inc., a non-scheduled carrier. In 1944, Hirsig filed an application with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Docke ...

1948 route map depicted Vernal as a proposed destination with service to Salt Lake City. In 1950, Challenger merged with Arizona Airways and Monarch Airlines to form Frontier Airlines which began service that year to Vernal. A number of commuter airlines served Vernal. In 1979

Transwestern Airlines Transwestern Airlines was a regional airline based in Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city o ...

was competing with Frontier on the Salt Lake City route with Piper Aircraft. Salmon Air flew nonstop to Salt Lake City at one point. By 1983, Air Link Airlines was operating direct, one stop flights to Denver via Hayden, CO or Rock Springs, WY with

Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

s. In 1985, SkyWest Airlines

s flew nonstop to Salt Lake City as an independent airline. By 1987, SkyWest was flying Metroliners nonstop to SLC as Western Express via a

code share In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

agreement with

Western Airlines Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

. In 1989 SkyWest had become a

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...

air carrier operating code share service for

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...

flying nonstop Metroliners to Salt Lake City. Air Midwest, a subsidiary of

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...

which flew to Vernal as

America West Express America West Express was the brand name for America West Airlines commuter and regional flights operated by Mesa Air Group's Mesa Airlines under a code share agreement. Today Mesa Airlines operates for American Eagle. Mesa Airlines operated Am ...

, commenced nonstop flights to

Salt Lake City International Airport Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-min ...

on July 2, 2006. In January 2008

Great Lakes Aviation Great Lakes Airlines was an American regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters were in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a hub at Denver International Airport. As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines ...

replaced Air Midwest and began flying Beechcraft 1900Ds to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and on December 5, 2011, Great Lakes began service to Canyonlands Field in

Moab, Utah Moab () is the largest city and county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitors to ...

as an extension of its Denver service. However, Great Lakes Airlines subsequently ended its flights to Denver and ceased all service to Vernal.

Facilities

The airport covers 393 acres (159 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic 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 surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of 5,280 feet (1,609 m). It has one asphalt

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

: 17/35 is 7,000 by 100 feet (2,134 x 30 m). In 2011 the airport had 8,960 aircraft operations, average 24 per day: 84%

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

and 16%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

. 36 aircraft were then based at the airport: 64% single-engine, 22%

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

, 11% multi-engine, and 3%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

Airline and destination

Passenger

United Express service is operated by SkyWest Airlines via a code sharing agreement with

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

flying with the

Canadair CRJ-200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...

regional jets.

References

External links

Aerial image as of July 1997
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a 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 effort is to pro ...

'' * {{authority control Airports in Utah Transportation in Uintah County, Utah Buildings and structures in Uintah County, Utah Essential Air Service