Mid Delta Regional Airport
Mid-Delta Airport is a public use airport in unincorporated Washington County, Mississippi, United States. It is located five nautical miles northeast of the central business district of Greenville, the city that owns the airport. It is served by one commercial airline, Boutique Air, which is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. Formerly, the facility was known as Greenville Air Force Base.
As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 6,310 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 6,290 in 2009, 6,609 in 2010, 7,417 in 2011, and 5,181 in 2012. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a non-primary commercial service airport.
Facilities and aircraft
Mid-Delta Regional Airport is the only commercial airport located in the Mississippi Delta. Located approximately north of central Greenville, MDRA is situated on of land, with a sizable portion in the Mid-Delta Empowerment Zone. A controlled airfield, MDRA has a control tower which is manned from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., seven days a week.The facility has two runways, the primary being 18L/36R which is composed of an asphalt surface wide by long. Runway 18L/36R is a precision approach runway with an Instrument landing System, medium approach lighting system with rails, approach lights and High Intensity Runway Lights. A parallel runway, 18R/36L, has an asphalt and concrete surface with a width of and length of. Runway 18R/36L is a non-precision runway with Medium Intensity Runway Lights,. The runways are connected by six taxiways. Ramp space is abundant, with of concrete ramp area.
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2009, the airport had 37,295 aircraft operations, an average of 102 per day: 47% military, 30% air taxi, 23% general aviation, and <1% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 17 aircraft based at this airport: 88% single-engine and 12% jet.
History
Historically, Greenville had scheduled passenger service provided by Southern Airways commencing during the early 1950s from the former Greenville Municipal Airport operated with Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft flying daily round trip routings of Memphis - Greenville - Vicksburg - Jackson, MS - Natchez - Baton Rouge - New Orleans and Memphis - Greenville - Vicksburg - Jackson, MS - Laurel - Hattiesburg - Mobile. Southern subsequently moved its service to Mid Delta Regional and in 1968 was operating six departures a day from the airport all with Martin 4-0-4 prop aircraft with three nonstop flights a day to its Memphis hub as well as three direct, no change of plane flights a day to New Orleans via various stops en route. Southern subsequently began operating Douglas DC-9-10 jetliners from the airport on nonstop flights to Memphis with direct service to Baton Rouge and New Orleans via an intermediate stop in Monroe, Louisiana and also on a direct, one stop basis to Atlanta. Other DC-9 jet flights operated by Southern continued on direct, no change of plane routings to Chicago, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. The July 1, 1978 Southern system timetable listed two nonstop DC-9 flights a day to its Memphis hub as well as one nonstop DC-9 flight a day to Monroe with this service continuing on to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Fort Walton Beach, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, and one nonstop DC-9 flight a day to Jackson with this service continuing on to Atlanta which also served as a hub for Southern.Southern then merged with North Central Airlines to form Republic Airlines which in turn continued to serve Greenville. According to the July 1, 1979 Republic system timetable, the airline was operating nonstop DC-9 jet service to Memphis where it was operating a hub as well as nonstop service to Monroe and was also operating direct, no change of plane DC-9 service to Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Walton Beach via Eglin Air Force Base, Greenville/Spartanburg, SC, Huntsville/Decatur, AL, Miami, New Orleans, New York City via LaGuardia Airport, Orlando and Washington D.C. via Dulles Airport. Republic subsequently ceased all flights from Greenville and had withdrawn from the market by 1986.
In 1989, Northwest Airlink nonstop service from Alexandria, Louisiana, Memphis and Monroe was being operated on a code sharing basis by Express Airlines I on behalf of Northwest Airlines with British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31 and Saab 340 commuter turboprop aircraft.
In May 2015, SeaPort Airlines announced that it planned to end service to and from the airport. After receiving proposals from four airlines, the Greenville city council unanimously chose Boutique Air as its next airline.
In July 2017, The US Department of Transportation has approved Greenville’s choice for subsidized air service. Boutique Air, which has been serving Mid Delta Regional Airport since 2015 would remain the carrier through 2021, with a caveat.
On 3 June 2018, a storm system destroyed the hangar and most of the aircraft at the airport.
On 1 March 2019, Boutique Air announced a new flight schedule beginning April 1, 2019 flying from Greenville Mid-Delta Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Greenville to Atlanta is a new route that was recommended by the community, to give access to a larger cosmopolitan area and improve Greenville’s economic opportunity. Boutique Air retired service from Greenville to Nashville, TN on March, 31 2019. At the end of March, Boutique Air ceased all flights to Nashville International Airport and concentrate on flights to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Airlines and destinations
| Destinations map |
Statistics
| Rank | Airport name & IATA code | Passengers | Airline |
| 1 | Nashville International | 3,350 | Boutique Air |
| 2 | Dallas/Fort Worth International | 2,100 | Boutique Air |