For the United States Air Force use of this facility, see Larson Air Force Base

Larson Air Force Base

Larson Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located five miles northwest of the central business district of Moses Lake, in Grant County, Washington. After its closure, the airport was operated as Grant County International Airport.-History:Larson Air Force Base was named in...

Grant County International Airport is a public use airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 located five nautical miles (9 km) northwest of the central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 of Moses Lake

Moses Lake, Washington

Moses Lake is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 20,366 as of the 2010 census. Moses Lake is the largest city in Grant County.-Background:...

, in Grant County, Washington, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is owned by the Port of Moses Lake.

Its 13500 feet (4,114.8 m) runway is one of the longest in the U.S..

Until 1966, the facility was operated by the U.S. Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 as Larson Air Force Base

Larson Air Force Base

Larson Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located five miles northwest of the central business district of Moses Lake, in Grant County, Washington. After its closure, the airport was operated as Grant County International Airport.-History:Larson Air Force Base was named in...

. Passenger air service to and from Moses Lake ended on June 8, 2010.

Overview

With 4700 acres (1,902 ha) and a main runway 13500 feet (4,115 m) in length, it is one of the largest airports in the United States. Moses Lake is famous for good flying weather, as it is located on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, in the semi-arid desert of central Washington state.

Grant County International Airport was an alternate landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle program, officially called Space Transportation System , was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011...

.

Scheduled passenger flights on Big Sky Airlines

Big Sky Airlines

Big Sky Airlines was an American regional airline that operated from 1978 to 2008. Headquartered in Billings, Montana, United States. Big Sky was wholly owned by Big Sky Transportation Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of MAIR Holdings....

 to Boise

Boise, Idaho

Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...

 and Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 were discontinued on September 1, 2006. The service was subsidized by the Essential Air Service

Essential Air Service

Essential Air Service is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which, prior to deregulation, were served by certificated airlines, maintained commercial service. Its aim is to maintain a minimal level of scheduled air service to these...

 program. United Express, operated by SkyWest Airlines

Skywest Airlines

Skywest Airlines Pty Ltd is a regional airline company based in Perth, Western Australia, Australia; servicing key towns in the state of Western Australia, Darwin, Northern Territory and Melbourne, Victoria; as well as charter flights to Bali, Indonesia....

 offered nonstop flights to Seattle from June 2009 until June 2010. The airport currently has no commercial air service.

The airport had been used for heavy jet training by Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines

is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...

 for nearly 40 years until the closing of their training offices in March, 2009.

It is also utilized by the U.S. Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

  and Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

 as a testing facility. Most of the traffic at the airport is general and military aviation.

The main campus for Big Bend Community College

Big Bend Community College

Big Bend Community College is a two-year college in Moses Lake, Washington. It offers several associate's degrees in academic and vocational fields.- History :...

 is also located on the grounds of the airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Grant Co. International Airport covers an area of 4650 acres (1,881.8 ha) at an elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of 1,189 feet (362 m) above mean sea level. It has five paved runway

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

s:

• Runway 14L/32R is 13,503 by 200 feet (4,116 x 61 m) with an asphalt/concrete surface
• Runway 4/22 is 10,000 by 100 feet (3,048 x 30 m) with an asphalt/concrete surface
• Runway 9/27 is 3,500 by 90 feet (1,067 x 27 m) with a concrete surface
• Runway 18/36 is 3,327 by 75 feet (1,014 x 23 m) with an asphalt surface
• Runway 14R/32L is 2,936 by 75 feet (895 x 23 m) with a concrete surface

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2008, the airport had 69,940 aircraft operations, an average of 191 per day: 56% general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

, 33% military

Military aviation

Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...

, 8% scheduled commercial

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 and 3% air taxi

Air taxi

An air taxi is an air charter passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis.-Regulation:In the United States, air taxi and air charter operations are governed by Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations , unlike the larger scheduled air carriers which are governed by more...

. At that time there were 43 aircraft based at this airport: 74% single-engine

Aircraft engine

An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...

, 19% multi-engine and 7% jet

Jet aircraft

A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...

.

External links

• Grant County International Airport at Port of Moses Lake website
• Grant County International Airport at WSDOT Aviation