Relief airport

Palm Beach County Park Lantana Airport

A relief airport is an airport that is built or designated to provide relief or additional capacity to an area when the primary commercial airport(s) reach capacity. In some cases a relief airport is an existing one that is designated to handle a specific class of aircraft such as general aviation.

The advantages of an additional airport are clear. Less obvious are the capacity gains from moving general aviation from a commercial airport to a different facility. By removing aircraft with lower capacities and slower speeds, an airport is able to operate more flights with larger aircraft and handle more passengers increasing efficiency with minimal additional cost in facilities at the older and generally larger facility.

This also spreads out the aircraft over a wider area generally improving air traffic in the entire community.

Examples

Centennial (Denver)

• Centennial Airport

Buffalo (New York)

• Niagara Falls International Airport
• Buffalo-Lancaster Regional Airport (General aviation only)

Charlotte Metropolitan Area

• Concord Regional Airport

Cleveland (Ohio)

• Burke Lakefront Airport

Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex

• McKinney National Airport (General aviation, relief airport for Dallas Love Field)
• Dallas Executive Airport (General aviation, relief airport for Dallas Love Field)

Helsinki

• Helsinki-Malmi Airport

Michigan Reliever Airports

• Grosse Ile Municipal Airport
• Willow Run Airport
• Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport
• Oakland Southwest Airport
• Canton-Plymouth-Mettetal Airport
• St. Clair County International Airport
• Romeo State Airport
• Oakland/Troy Airport

Maryland Reliever Airports

• Carroll County Regional Airport

Hong Kong

• Shek Kong Airfield (General aviation only, shared with PLA Air Force)

Houston Metropolitan Area

• Ellington Airport
• Scholes International Airport at Galveston
• West Houston Airport
• Sugar Land Regional Airport

Indianapolis Metropolitan Area

• Eagle Creek Airpark
• Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport
• Indianapolis Regional Airport

Las Vegas Metropolitan Area

• Henderson Executive Airport

Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

• Santa Monica Airport
• Van Nuys Airport
• Compton/Woodley Airport

Louisville Metropolitan Area

• Bowman Field

Minneapolis-St.Paul (Twin Cities) Metropolitan Area

• Saint Paul Downtown Airport
• Flying Cloud Airport

New Orleans Metropolitan Area

• New Orleans Lakefront Airport

New York Metropolitan Area

• Essex County Airport
• Morristown Airport
• Republic Airport
• Teterboro Airport

Philadelphia Metropolitan Area

• Northeast Philadelphia Airport
• Wilmington Airport

Ottawa-Hull / National Capital Region

• Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport

Tucson Metropolitan Area

• Ryan Airfield

Tulsa Metropolitan Area

• Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport

See also

• Executive airport, a marketing term employed to promote general aviation to corporate jet travellers
• FAA airport categories
• List of cities with more than one airport

Sources

• The Impact of a General Aviation Airport on Surrounding Land Use Patterns: Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport Brockway, David Arthur. ProQuest. 2007.