Springfield–Branson National Airport

37°14′44″N 093°23′19″W / 37.24556°N 93.38861°W / 37.24556; -93.38861

Springfield–Branson National Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCity of Springfield
OperatorSpringfield Airport Board
ServesSpringfield / Branson, Missouri
OpenedJuly 2, 1945 (79 years ago) (1945-07-02)
Elevation AMSL1,268 ft / 386 m
WebsiteSpringfield–Branson National Airport
Map
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
14/32 8,000 2,438 Concrete
2/20 7,003 2,135 Concrete
Statistics (2023)
Passengers1,292,007
Aircraft operations64,947
Based aircraft145 (2022)
Sources: FAA,[1] airport website[2]
FAA diagram

Springfield–Branson National Airport (IATA: SGF, ICAO: KSGF, FAA LID: SGF) (formerly Springfield–Greene County Airport, Springfield Municipal Airport, and Springfield–Branson Regional Airport) is five miles (8.0 km) northwest of Springfield, in Greene County, Missouri, United States. The airport has flights to 13 non-stop cities in the U.S., 1 of which is a seasonal service.[3]

History

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In 1925, McCluer Flying Field (now Downtown Airport) was opened as a private airport on East Division Street. It was purchased by the city in 1928 and renamed to Springfield Park and Airport. The following year, commercial air service from American Airlines, Transcontinental and Western, and other carriers began to be offered at the airport.[4]

Over the next two decades, as planes continued to increase in size, the short and unpaved runways of the Springfield Airport made it difficult for commercial air service to expand. Furthermore, the Great Depression left little funding for improvement, and commercial air service eventually disappeared.

During World War 2, wounded returning soldiers were being flown in large numbers to Springfield, on their way to the O'Reilly General Hospital. Due to this, it became evident that the airport was ill-equipped for air traffic, and that the city of Springfield was in dire need of an upgrade.

In October 1942, municipal voters approved a $350,000 bond issue to build a new airport, for which work began in 1944. Further bonds in the amount of $150,000 to complete the project were approved in 1945, and on July 2 of that year the new Airport opened for business. While originally known as the Springfield-Greene County Airport, disagreements between the city and county governments about finances caused the City of Springfield to assume full control, renaming it the Springfield Municipal Airport. Soon after, in early 1946, American Airlines again began commercial service to SGF.

In 1960, Springfield voters approved a $600,000 bond issue to build a new terminal, which opened in October 1964. This terminal was expanded multiple times in the following decades as passenger numbers grew at an accelerating rate.

The airport was eventually renamed the Springfield-Branson National Airport. It is likely that this was in order to capitalise on the tourist industry of the nearby city of Branson, Missouri. Despite this, the city of Branson is not involved in any way with the operation or funding of the airport.

In 2005, the airport saw a year-over-year passenger increase of 23 percent, its largest in history. Due to this, ground was broken for yet another new terminal in May 2006. The new Midfield Terminal was opened in May 2009. In the same month, the airport celebrated its first scheduled service to the west coast, an Allegiant Air service to Los Angeles. The new terminal was eventually renamed the Roy Blunt Terminal in honor of Missouri Senator Roy Blunt.

The airport served 1 million passengers for the first time in 2018.

Accidents and incidents

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  • At 10:36 pm on March 20, 1955, American Airlines Flight 711 crashed more than a mile north of the airport. Eleven of 32 passengers died, along with the stewardess and copilot. The federal investigation blamed pilot error misjudging the altitude. It is the only fatal accident on airport property.

Facilities

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The airport covers 2,750 acres (1,110 ha) and has two runways: 14/32, asphalt/concrete, 8,000 ft × 150 ft (2,438 m × 46 m); and 2/20, concrete, 7,003 ft × 150 ft (2,135 m × 46 m).[1][5]

In the year ending December 31, 2021 the airport had 47,565 aircraft operations, average 130 per day: 44% general aviation, 27% air taxi, 6% military and 22% airline. 142 aircraft at that time were based at this airport: 87 single-engine, 10 multi-engine, 33 jet, 2 helicopters, and 10 military.[1]

An Army National Guard unit is based at Springfield–Branson, the 35th combat aviation brigade, detachment 3 company 1 of the 185th aviation regiment. "The 35th Combat Aviation Brigade deploys to an area of responsibility to provide command, control, staff planning and supervision of combat aviation brigade operations. The brigade's units fly a combination of AH-64A Apache attack helicopters, OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopters and UH-60 Blackhawk utility helicopters. It also has a detachment of two C-23 Sherpa cargo airplanes and a C-12 transport airplane."[6]

Financial data

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The strongest area of income for SGF is from non-aeronautical revenue activities including parking and rental cars. This is followed by fuel sales, terminal fees and landing fees. Parking income has been the strongest for the past year[when?] and has followed enplanement trends with a drop in revenues in FY 2008, and increasing again in FY 2010, with the highest level to date at more than $2.5 million.[7]

Personnel is the largest expenditure for the airport: this major operating expense is increasing per year and remains the highest by a very large margin. Additionally, an expense that sticks out is a sharp increase in contractual series between FY 2011 and FY 2012.

Fiscal year Total revenues Total expenses Net income Capital expenditures
2008 $12,008,097 6,703,666 5,304,431 Not Reported
2009 10,708,239 7,239,789 3,468,450 57,788,829
2010 10,876,318 8,290,949 2,585,369 15,539,739
2011 11,529,077 8,726,064 2,803,013 7,596,060
2012 11,668,484 9,256,135 2,412,349 9,725,630

Source:[8]

Airlines and destinations

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Passenger

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AirlinesDestinations
Allegiant Air Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando/Sanford, Phoenix/Mesa, Punta Gorda (FL), St. Petersburg/Clearwater
Seasonal: Destin/Fort Walton Beach
American Eagle Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth
Delta Air Lines Atlanta[9]
Delta Connection Atlanta
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Houston–Intercontinental

Cargo

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AirlinesDestinations
DHL Aviation Cincinnati
FedEx Express Des Moines, Memphis
UPS Airlines Louisville, Miami,[10] Tulsa, Wichita

Statistics

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Top destinations

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Ten busiest domestic routes out of SGF
(April 2022 – March 2023)
[11]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1   Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 142,000 American
2   Atlanta, GA 80,000 Delta
3   Chicago–O'Hare, IL 71,000 American, United
4   Charlotte, NC 52,000 American
5   Denver, CO 50,000 United
6   Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 29,000 United
7   St. Petersburg, FL 28,000 Allegiant
8   Phoenix–Mesa, AZ 26,000 Allegiant
9   Orlando–Sanford, FL 22,000 Allegiant
10   Las Vegas, NV 19,000 Allegiant

Annual traffic

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Year Passengers Percent change
2000 710,961   --%
2001 653,568   8.7%
2002 652,283   0.1%
2003 653,253   0.1%
2004 721,958   10.5%
2005 888,738   23.1%
2006 864,999   2.6%
2007 883,893   2.1%
2008 779,995   11.7%
2009 811,771   4.0%
2010 796,251   1.9%
2011 731,396   8.1%
2012 740,000   1.1%
2013 755,773[12]   2.1%
2014 846,324[13]   12.0%
2015 919,004   8.5%
2016 952,703   3.6%
2017 993,129[14]   4.2%
2018 1,075,425[15]   8.3%
2019 1,187,068[16]   10.4%
2020 598,604[17]   49.6%
2021 968,227[18]   62.7%
2022 1,109,529[19]   14.6%
2023 1,292,007[20]   16.4%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c FAA Airport Form 5010 for SGF PDF, effective January 24, 2024
  2. ^ Springfield–Branson National Airport, official website, retrieved 2023-02-15
  3. ^ "Non-stop destinations - Springfield-Brandon National Airpot (SGF)".
  4. ^ "About SGF - Springfield-Branson National Airport (SGF)".
  5. ^ "SGF airport data at skyvector.com". skyvector.com. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  6. ^ "Missouri National Guard | 35th Combat Aviation". Archived from the original on 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
  7. ^ Federal Aviation Administration: Compliance Activity Tracking System (CATS)
  8. ^ "(CATS) View Reports and Spreadsheets Ver: 2014.08". cats.airports.faa.gov.
  9. ^ "Delta returns to Springfield and Baton Rouge in January 2022".
  10. ^ "WebVIDS".
  11. ^ "OST_R - BTS - Transtats". www.transtats.bts.gov.
  12. ^ "Flight Blog | Springfield-Branson National Airport (SGF)".
  13. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2019-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-01-03. Retrieved 2019-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "StackPath".
  16. ^ "Springfield-Branson National Airport addresses growing pains after biggest year ever".
  17. ^ "Airport Enplanement Data" (PDF). December 2020.
  18. ^ "Springfield Branson Airport data for 2021" (PDF).
  19. ^ "Springfield Branson Airport data for 2022" (PDF). flyspringfield.com. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  20. ^ "Springfield Branson Airport data for 2023" (PDF). flyspringfield.com. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
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