Ely Airport (Yelland Field) 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 ...

three miles northeast of Ely, in White Pine County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, United States. The

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 ...

says this airport had 239 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year 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. The Gregorian calendar year, which is in use as civil calendar in ...

2008, 216 in 2009 and 245 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. 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 ''

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 ...

'' airport.

History

Historical airline service

Ely's first airline service began 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 ...

in 1955 providing one daily direct flight each to Salt Lake City and San Francisco using Convair 340 aircraft. The flight to San Francisco made stops in Elko and Reno, Nevada, as well as Sacramento and Oakland, California. Service was later upgraded using

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, Douglas reworked it after the war to compete ...

s that continued into 1970. This was United's last service using piston engine propeller aircraft. United then began a subcontract arrangement with Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) using Convair 580s for its Ely service. In 1977, United brought the service back in house using Boeing 737-200 jets flying a San Francisco - Reno - Elko - Ely - Salt Lake City - Denver route with one daily round trip. Ely was the smallest destination ever to be served year round by United jets. United's service ended on April 1, 1982. Scenic Airlines also served Ely from about 1973 through 1976 with flights to Las Vegas using

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 108. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. All seats are easily removable so ...

aircraft. Chaparral Aviation flew from Ely to several smaller communities throughout northern Nevada in 1981 and 1982. With the

Airline Deregulation Act The Airline Deregulation Act is a 1978 United States federal law that deregulated the airline industry in the United States, removing federal control over such areas as fares, routes, and market entry of new airlines. The act gradually phase ...

of 1978, service to Ely became subsidized under 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 so that the city would not lose all service. A series of commuter airlines then provided service to Ely.

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 ...

provided service to Salt Lake City (SLC) as well as Elko and Reno, Nevada, offering three daily flights each using

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 ...

aircraft. In 1986, SkyWest began operating as Western Express, a code-share affiliate for

Western Airlines Western Airlines was a major airline in the United States 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 Mex ...

which had built a major hub at SLC. Service was reduced to only one daily roundtrip to SLC using a larger

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, Cabin pressurization, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation, Swearingen ...

aircraft. Western Airlines merged with

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 ...

in 1987, and the SkyWest flight then took on the designation as

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 ...

. Service continued until 1996. Alpine Aviation provided two daily flights to SLC from 1996 through 1999 using Piper Cheyenne aircraft. Scenic Airlines returned to Ely from 1999 through 2006 with flights to North Las Vegas Airport and Elko Regional Airport. On November 12, 2006, Air Midwest began flights to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas via Cedar City Regional Airport in Cedar City, Utah, using Beechcraft 1900Ds. The stop in Cedar City was due to the fact that McCarran Airport requires

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 ...

screening not available at Ely. The return flights operated nonstop from Las Vegas to Ely. The service began as America West Express, a feeder service for

America West Airlines America West Airlines was an airline in the United States that operated from 1981 until it merged with US Airways in 2007. It was headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. Its main hub was at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, with secondary hubs ...

. America West merged with

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 ...

in 2007 at which time the service became

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 ...

. This service ended in mid-2008. Great Lakes Aviation then took over serving Ely with Beechcraft 1900Ds as well. At first, a single flight to Denver was operated with a stop at Moab, Utah. In 2011, the service was switched to one daily nonstop flight to Las Vegas. Great Lakes service ended in March, 2013, as passenger traffic fell below the minimum required to maintain subsidies. Ely has not seen scheduled airline service since.Volumes of the Official Airline Guide from 1955 through 2020

Facilities

Ely Airport covers 4,999

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s (2,023 ha) 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 6,260 feet (1,908 m). It has two

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 ...

runways: 18/36 is 6,017 by 150 feet (1,834 x 46 m) and 12/30 is 4,825 by 60 feet (1,471 x 18 m). In the year ending April 30, 2022, the airport had 5,583 aircraft operations, average 107 per week: 73%

, 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 ...

, and 4% military. 10 aircraft were then based here: 9 single-engine, and 1 multi-engine.

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-1995-361
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

: *
Order 2006-4-9
selecting Scenic Airlines, Inc., to continue to provide subsidized essential air service at Ely, Nevada, consisting of six nonstop round trips a week to Elko and six nonstop round trips a week to North Las Vegas Airport, for a new two-year term, through February 29, 2008. *
Order 2006-8-29
selecting Mesa Air Group Inc. d/b/a Air Midwest to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Merced and Visalia, California, and Ely, Nevada, for two years, beginning when the carrier inaugurates service. Merced and Visalia will receive 23 weekly round trips to Las Vegas, operated on a Las Vegas - Merced - Visalia - Las Vegas or Las Vegas - Visalia - Merced - Las Vegas routing at an annual subsidy rate of $1,599,207. Ely will receive 6 nonstop round trips each week to Salt Lake City at an annual subsidy rate of $647,709. Air Midwest will operate as America West Express/US Airways Express and serve each community with 19-passenger Beech 1900-Ds. *
Order 2008-6-26
selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Merced and Visalia, California, and Ely, Nevada, for the two-year period beginning when the carrier inaugurates full EAS pursuant to this Order, at an annual subsidy of $4,900,401 with 19-seat Beech 1900Ds. *
Order 2010-9-13
re-selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) with 19-passenger Beechcraft B-1900Ds at Merced and Visalia, California, and Ely, Nevada, from October 1, 2010, through September 31, 2012. The annual subsidy rates will be $1,961,174, $1,746,507, and $1,752,067 for Merced, Visalia and Ely, respectively, for a total of $5,459,748.

External links