Kirksville Regional Airport (IATA: IRK, ICAO: KIRK, FAA LID: IRK) is a city owned, public use airport located six nautical miles (7 mi, 11 km) southeast of the central business district of Kirksville, a city in Benton Township, Adair County, Missouri, United States. The airport is situated in Pettis Township, near the village of Millard. It is served by one commercial airline with scheduled passenger service subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 684 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 926 enplanements in 2009, and 2,127 in 2010. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation facility (the commercial service category requires at least 2,500 enplanements per year).
KIRKSVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT HISTORY
Aviation in the Kirksville area began in the Kirksville area within a few years of the Wright brothers historic flight. Local resident Nick Sparling is credited as being Adair County’s first aviator, in 1909. In 1924, Roy B. “Cap” Dodson started the first airport in the area, located on the north edge of Kirksville. However, an airfield at the present location of Kirksville Regional Airport wasn’t created until 1930 when the Federal Aviation Administration built a series of emergency landing strips across the nation. With America’s entry into World War II, the Kirksville Municipal Airport, as it had been declared in the late 1930s, received a major upgrade from the Civilian Pilots Training Program and the US Army Air Corps War Training Service. In 1942 a paved all-weather landing strip, hangars, a control tower and small restaurant were constructed.
KIRKSVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT LOCATION
KIRKSVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT FACTS
ICAO/IATA: IRK/KIRK
Lat: 40°05′36″N
Long: 092°32′42″W
Elevation: 966 ft.
Runway length available: 09/27 1393×100 ft. :: 18/36 6005×100 ft.
