McNary Field (Salem-Willamette Valley Airport, formerly Salem Municipal Airport) is in Marion County,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States, two miles southeast of downtown Salem, which owns it. The airport is named for U.S. Senator Charles L. McNary of Oregon, who had died in February 1944, a couple of years after the airport became operational. McNary Field has had scheduled airline flights, including service on

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 ...

that ended in October 2008. 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 ''primary commercial service'' facility based on enplanements in 2008 (more than 10,000 per year).

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 15,205 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

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2008, an increase from 12,979 in 2007. The

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- Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) and charter flights also use the facilities. McNary Field is the home of the

Oregon Department of Aviation The Oregon Department of Aviation (ODAV) is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon chiefly responsible for matters relating to the continuing development of aviation as part of the state's transportation system, and the safety of ...

. On June 10, 2024, the Salem City Council voted to change the name of the airport from Salem Municipal Airport to Salem-Willamette Valley Airport, with the goal of encouraging tourism by highlighting the airport's location in the

Willamette Valley AVA Willamette Valley ( ) is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) which lies in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The AVA is the wine growing region which encompasses the drainage basin of the Willamette River. It stretches from the Columbia River ...

Airline service

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 ...

was the first airline to serve Salem beginning in 1941–42. Their

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating ...

mainline jet service operated a roundtrip San Francisco ( SFO) - Medford (MFR) - Salem (SLE) - Portland (PDX) route was discontinued in 1980. All passenger airline service into McNary Field ended in 1993. The city campaigned to bring scheduled passenger service back, and on June 7, 2007,

operated by

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 ...

on behalf of

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 ...

began serving Salem with two CRJ-200 regional jet flights per day to Salt Lake City (SLC) that ended on October 9, 2008. Earlier, Horizon Air commuter turboprops flew between Salem and Portland. In April 2011,

SeaPort Airlines SeaPort Airlines is an American airline with daily commuter flights between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. The airline, which is a sister company of regional airline Alaska Seaplanes, is a division of Kalinin Holdings, Inc., a closely held famil ...

, an Oregon-based commuter airline, began 11 weekly flights between

Newport Municipal Airport (Oregon) Newport Municipal Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Newport, a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It is included in the National Pla ...

, Salem and

Portland International Airport Portland International Airport is a joint civil–military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of the state's passenger air travel and more than 95% of its air cargo. It is within Portland's city li ...

. The service was short-lived, and three months later in July 2011 SeaPort Airlines ended all service into Salem. On April 10, 2023, the City Council approved an air carrier agreement with an undisclosed airline to begin service to Salem. Initial service would be to

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and the

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. Future service could include Phoenix and the

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. Terminal renovations were then completed to accommodate the TSA and ground support equipment was purchased to accommodate the new airline service. On July 13, 2023,

Avelo Airlines Avelo Airlines, Inc. () is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Houston, Texas. It previously operated charter flights as ''Casino Express Airlines'' and ''Xtra Airways'' before transitioning to scheduled operations and rebrandi ...

announced it was planning to initiate scheduled passenger service to

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

(

BUR A bur (also spelled burr) is a seed or dry fruit or infructescence that has hooks or teeth. The main function of the bur is to spread the seeds of the bur plant, often through epizoochory. The hooks of the bur are used to latch onto fur or f ...

) and Las Vegas ( LAS) with direct flights to each destination operated twice weekly with

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

mainline jets beginning in early October 2023. Avelo then announced that it would operate non stop 737 jet service to commence in early May 2024 with twice weekly flights to

Santa Rosa, CA Santa Rosa (Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Cou ...

(STS) in

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

. Avelo has also increased Burbank flights to 3 round trips per week.

Facilities

McNary Field 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

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: 13/31, long with an ILS, and runway (16/34). There is one

helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...

: H1, . The airport has a

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 ...

, a restaurant, a general aviation center including limited

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

, and a small terminal. The terminal building is about after expansion in 2010 that enlarged the waiting area and added airport administration offices, ticket counters,

car rental A car rental, hire car or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time to the public, generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It is often organized with numerous local branches (which allow a user t ...

counters, a baggage area. The terminal currently has one departure

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word is derived from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*gatan'', meaning an opening or passageway. Synonyms include yett (which comes from the same root w ...

behind security as well as a general gate for arriving passengers in front of security. The expanded facility is more than twice the size of the old terminal, and was designed by Mead & Hunt. The control tower is high, designed by Hunt/Avco and built in 1973. It consists of a square tower with a hexagonal cab. In the year ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 45,357 aircraft operations, average 124 per day: 86%

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 ...

, 7% military, 8%

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 <1% commercial. 182 aircraft were then based at the airport: 136 single-engine, 10 multi-engine, 6 jet, 9

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, 2 glider, and 19 military. McNary Field terminal

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

References

External links

* Salem Municipal Airport - McNary Field
CityOfSalem.net
or http://www.flysalem.org/ FlySalem.org]
www.FlySalem.com
unofficial website
Oregon Department of Aviation: AIMS data for KSLE

Aerial image as of July 2000
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 ...

'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcnary Field Airports in Marion County, Oregon World War II airfields in the United States Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Technical Service Command Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Oregon Transportation in Salem, Oregon 1941 establishments in Oregon Airports established in 1941