Canyonlands Regional Airport, Moab is a regional commercial airport in Grand County,

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, United States, northwest of

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

. The airport services two airlines, one 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, maintain commercial service. Its aim is ...

program. The

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reported 2,870 enplanements (passenger boardings) at the airport in calendar year 2008, 3,982 in 2009, 2,701 in 2010, 9,181 in 2011, 7,955 in 2012, 7,048 in 2013, and 9,843 (unofficial) in 2017. 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 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''non-primary commercial service'' airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year).

History

Canyonlands Regional Airport opened about 1964–1965, with the runway 15/33, wide
1985 airport info
This runway was replaced in 1985 with the current northeast–southwest-oriented runway, 75 feet wide. In the latter 2010s, the terminal building was greatly expanded to handle upcoming 50-seat regional jets.

Historical airline service

From 1959 to 1965, the original

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines, Inc. is a major American ultra low-cost airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and employs more than 5,000 staff. ...

served the previous airfield, Grand County Airport (), eight miles southeast of Moab, followed by service to Canyonlands from 1965 to 1975. In 1959, Frontier

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

s flew direct to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

with stops in Grand Junction, Montrose, Gunnison, and

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. From the new airport, Frontier Convair 580s flew direct to

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, Phoenix,

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, and

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via intermediate en route stops. By late 1970, Frontier 580s flew to Denver via Grand Junction. Service was paused in 1973 for airport construction at which time Western Air Stages provided flights to Grand Junction using a much smaller Beechcraft Queen Air model 80. Frontier returned in late 1973 but then ended all service by late 1974. Several commuter airlines then served Moab mainly with flights to Salt Lake City, Denver, or Grand Junction. These carriers are funded through the federal government

Program, and their service comes up for bid every two years. These airlines included: * Sun Valley Key Commuter 1974–1976,

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of twin-engined low-wing tricycle gear utility aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for small cargo and feeder airlines, and as a corporate aircraft. Production ran from 1967 to 1984. It was licen ...

s to Salt Lake City and Grand Junction. Frontier Airlines timetables listed Sun Valley Key flights between Moab and Grand Junction to connect with Frontier to Denver until mid-1976. *

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah. SkyWest operates and maintains aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by four partner Mainline (air travel), mainline airlines. The comp ...

, summer 1975, Piper Navajos to Page, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. * Transwestern Airlines 1977/1980, Piper Navajos to Salt Lake City and Blanding, Utah. * Alpine Air 1984 through the latter 1990s, Pipers to Salt Lake City. The OAG shows no air service to Moab for several years in the late 1990s. * Sunrise Airlines 2000 thru early 2001 with BAe Jetstream 31's to Salt Lake City. * Great Lakes Airlines dba

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 ...

June 7, 2001, to early 2004, Beech 1900Ds to Denver and Phoenix. The Phoenix flight stopped in Page, Arizona. The representation as United Express ended in early 2002 and Great Lakes continued serving Moab under their own identity. * Salmon Air, May 2004 to June 2006, Piper Navajos to Salt Lake City. * Air Midwest dba America West Express, July 2, 2006, to November 3, 2007, Beechcraft 1900Ds to Salt Lake City and Phoenix. The Phoenix flight stopped in Farmington, New Mexico. * Air Midwest dba

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 ...

, November 4, 2007, to January 5, 2008, same as above. * Great Lakes Airlines returned on January 6, 2008, operating under their own identity with two daily Beechcraft 1900Ds to

Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , often referred to by locals as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , Effective Ju ...

. Daily nonstop flights were later added to Vernal, Utah, Ely, Nevada, and Prescott, Arizona, as an extension of its Denver service. Great Lakes ended service to Moab in January 2014. *

dba

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 ...

, March 2, 2014, to April 2015, Embraer 120s to Salt Lake City. SkyWest prematurely discontinued service due to the retirement of the Embraer Brasilia prop aircraft and there was then no air service at Moab for the next year. * Boutique Air, March 30, 2016, to February 28, 2018,

Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in addi ...

s to Denver and Salt Lake City. *

returned on May 1, 2018 (now as

) with Canadair CRJ-200s to Denver after the Moab airport runway was improved to handle regional jets. *

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

returned on May 5, 2021, with daily summer seasonal service to Salt Lake City International Airport flown by

partner SkyWest using CRJ-200.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

service was operated by

regional 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 ...

partner SkyWest using CRJ-200

regional jet A regional jet (RJ) is a jet airliner, jet-powered regional airliner usually defined by having fewer than 100 seats. The first aircraft considered part of this category was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by Douglas DC-9, BAC O ...

aircraft. Previous United Express service was operated by

via a

code sharing A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

agreement with

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 was flown with Canadair CRJ-200s. Both services were replaced by Contour Airlines with service to Phoenix.

Facilities

Canyonlands Regional 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 . Its

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s, 3/21, is asphalt, with displaced thresholds, and a

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

runway which is . In the year ending December 31, 2018 the airport had 15,750 aircraft operations, average 43 per day: 71%

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 ...

, 28%

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 ...

, and 2% military. 46 aircraft were then based at this airport: 40 single-engine, 1 multi-engine, 3 helicopters and 2

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 ...

. With the addition of regional jets in 2018, the terminal building underwent a major expansion.

Accidents and incidents

*On August 22, 2008, a

Beechcraft King Air The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...

, operating for Southwest Skin and Cancer LLC, leased from Leavitt Group Wings, LLC, impacted hilly terrain about 1.2 miles south of CNY shortly after takeoff in visual meteorological conditions bound for Cedar City Regional Airport. All ten occupants (nine passengers, one pilot) were killed. *On October 1, 2023, a single-engine Piper plane carrying North Dakota state senator Doug Larsen, his wife and their two young children crashed 15 miles north of CNY shortly after takeoff. The plane, piloted by Larsen, who was a lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota Army National Guard, stopped to refuel at CNY on the way back to North Dakota after visiting family in Scottsdale. All four occupants were killed.

References

External links

*
Aerial image as of July 1997
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 ...

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