Presque Isle International Airport , formally Northern Maine Regional Airport at Presque Isle, is a mile northwest of Presque Isle, in

Aroostook County, Maine Aroostook County ( ; french: Comté d'Aroostook) is a county in the U.S. state of Maine along the Canada–U.S. border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,105. Its county seat is Houlton, with offices in Caribou and Fort Kent. ...

, United States. It serves the residents of Presque Isle and a vast area of northern Maine and northwestern

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. Airline flights to

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Cou ...

are subsidized by the federal government's

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 at a cost of $3,892,174 (per year).

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 13,385 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any ...

2008, 13,513 in 2009 and 15,052 in 2010. The

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year). The airport has the third longest active runway in Maine at 7439' (behind

Bangor International Airport Bangor International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport on the west side of the city of Bangor, in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. Owned and operated by the City of Bangor, the airport has a single runway measuring . F ...

, 11,440' and

Brunswick Executive Airport Brunswick Executive Airport is a public use general aviation airport located two nautical miles (4 km) southeast of the central business district of Brunswick, a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is owned by the M ...

, formerly

Naval Air Station Brunswick Naval Air Station Brunswick , also known as NAS Brunswick, was a military airport located southeast of Brunswick, Maine, with a number of Navy-operated maritime patrol aircraft. As of November 28, 2009, the last aircraft ( P-3 Orions) left. The ...

runway 1R/19L, 8000'), and fifth longest overall (after the Loring Commerce Centre, formerly

Loring Air Force Base Loring Air Force Base was a United States Air Force installation in northeastern Maine, near Limestone and Caribou in Aroostook County. It was one of the largest bases of the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command during its existence, and was t ...

(runway closed), 12,100', and Brunswick Executive Airport 1L/19R (runway closed), 8000'). It was once hub to Aroostook Airways, a

commuter airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

in the 1970s, with service to several cities throughout

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

History

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the federal government appropriated the airport, establishing an air base for planes bound to and from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

. Lane Construction of Hampden was one of the contractors who worked on upgrading the airport for the military. Almost overnight, Presque Isle Army Airfield became a vital air transport installation and the city found itself a busy war center. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

was briefly stationed at Presque Isle before being sent to England. Operations during this period were described by Ernest K. Gann, based on his personal experiences in the

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies ...

, in his book, ''

Fate Is the Hunter Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although ofte ...

''.

Post war

When the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

closed Presque Isle Air Force Base in 1961, the former Air Force Base was redeveloped. Presque Isle is home the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

at Presque Isle, as well as the Northern Maine Community College. Scheduled commercial air service is available through Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle. General aviation services are available through both Northern Maine Regional Airport and Caribou Municipal Airport. In addition, the Skyway Industrial Park sits adjacent to Northern Maine Regional Airport which offers commercial airline as well as general aviation services to the entire region.

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

and

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service (UPS, stylized as ups) is an American multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs, UPS has grown t ...

augment park accessibility by air to and from major markets. Skyway Industrial Park, owned by the city of Presque Isle and administered by the Presque Isle Industrial Council, has been attractive to a variety of new businesses. To date, over 40 companies have located on the park. The park consists of , of which 175 is prime industrial land served by all utilities, streets, subdivided and available for further development. Located adjacent to the airport and within of downtown, the park has become a dominant feature in the local and regional economy.

Facilities

The airport covers 1,489

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s (603 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 § ...

of 534 feet (163 m). It has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

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, concrete ...

s: 1/19 is 7,439 by 150 feet (2,267 x 46 m) and 10/28 is 5,994 by 100 feet (1,827 x 30 m). In the year ending July 31, 2015 the airport had 5,750 aircraft operations, an average of 16 per day: 30%

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 ...

, 31%

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

, 38%

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) ...

, and 1% military. In June 2018, there were 24 aircraft based at the airport: 20 single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, 4 multi-engine, and 1 jet. Aircraft servicing Presque Isle include

Cessna 208 Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargo ...

s and Beechcraft C99s operated by Wiggins Airways. Passenger service is offered with CommutAir, which operates

Embraer ERJ family The Embraer ERJ family (for Embraer Regional Jet, model names EMB-135, EMB-140 and EMB-145) are regional jets designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The family includes the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passenger ...

aircraft for

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

Airline and destination

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Carrier shares

Top destinations

Accidents and incidents

* March 1, 1998: Two pilots performing practice

instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS) approaches at night in a

Piper PA-31 The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...

aircraft registration An aircraft registration is a code unique to a single aircraft, required by international convention to be marked on the exterior of every civil aircraft. The registration indicates the aircraft's country of registration, and functions much lik ...

''N777HM'', died when the aircraft crashed into rising terrain from the airport. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

(NTSB) attributed the accident to the pilot's failure to follow correct instrument approach procedures; contributing factors were fog, low ceilings, and darkness. * April 10, 1998: A Ted Smith Aerostar 600A, registration ''N7527S'', rolled into a near-vertical dive immediately after takeoff; the pilot, who was the sole aircraft occupant, was killed in the crash and ensuing fire. The NTSB was unable to determine why the pilot apparently lost control of the aircraft. * November 22, 2017: The left-hand engine of a Cessna 421, registration ''N421RX'', caught fire soon after takeoff from Presque Isle; the pilot attempted to return to the airport but was unable to maintain altitude and performed a

forced landing A forced landing is a landing by an aircraft made under factors outside the pilot's control, such as the failure of engines, systems, components, or weather which makes continued flight impossible. For a full description of these, see article on ' ...

in an adjacent field. Two persons aboard the aircraft suffered minor injuries and two others were uninjured; the aircraft was badly damaged. The NTSB attributed the accident to a fuel leak onto the hot

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

. * March 4, 2019: CommutAir Flight 4933, operating for

, arrived from

and missed runway 1 on landing, injuring five people and severely damaging the aircraft. The NTSB attributed the accident to

confirmation bias Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...

which prompted the pilots to continue descending even though they could not see the runway in heavy snow. Contributing factors were poor decision-making by the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

; fatigue of the first officer, who was flying the aircraft; and misalignment of the ILS localizer caused by deep snow, a condition that multiple pilots had noticed previously but which had not been properly reported. Contrary to initial statements by CommutAir and the

, the aircraft did not slide off the runway, but instead missed the runway entirely.

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket DOT-OST-2000-8012
from the U.S. Department of Transportation: *
Order 2004-10-16 (October 25, 2004)
re-selecting Colgan Air, Inc., to provide subsidized Essential Air Service (EAS) at Presque Isle/Houlton, Augusta/Waterville, Bar Harbor and Rockland, Maine, for a two-year period at a combined annual subsidy rate of $4,312,849. *
Order 2006-8-24 (August 25, 2006)
re-selecting Colgan Air, Inc., operating as

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 ...

, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Presque Isle/Houlton, Augusta/Waterville, Bar Harbor, and Rockland, Maine, at a total annual subsidy rate of $4,774,068 ($3,572,592 for Augusta/Waterville, Bar Harbor, and Rockland; $1,201,476 for Presque Isle/Houlton), for the two-year period of November 1, 2006, through October 31, 2008. *
Order 2008-5-23 (May 19, 2008)
re-selecting Colgan Air, Inc., operating as US Airways Express, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Presque Isle/Houlton, Maine, at an annual subsidy rate of $2,643,588, for the two-year period of May 15, 2008, through May 31, 2010. *
Order 2010-6-5 (June 2, 2010)
selecting Colgan Air Inc., operating as US Airways Express, to provide essential air service (EAS) at Presque Isle, Maine, for an annual subsidy of $2,812,853 for the two-year period from June 1, 2010 to May 31, 2012. *
Order 2012-3-2 (March 2, 2012)
selecting PenAir to provide EAS at Presque Isle and Plattsburgh using 34-passenger Saab 340 aircraft. At Presque Isle, PenAir will provide 19 weekly round trips for an annual subsidy rate of $4,341,967 for the first 6 months after full EAS commences and an annual subsidy rate of $3,892,174 for the 18 months thereafter.

External links

* , official site
Aerial image as of May 1996
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, ...

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 prov ...

'' * {{authority control Airports in Aroostook County, Maine Essential Air Service Buildings and structures in Presque Isle, Maine