Branson Airport

Branson Airport (IATA: BKG, ICAO: KBBG, FAA LID: BBG) is a public use airport located eight nautical miles (15 km) south-southeast of the central business district of Branson, a city in Taney County, Missouri, United States. Branson Airport, LLC is a private company operating the airport through an operating agreement with The Branson Regional Airport Transportation District. The airport is owned by Taney County, MO.

Branson Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic (Owned by Taney County, MO, Leased to Branson Regional Airport Transportation Development District (TDD) and Operated by Branson Airport, LLC
ServesBranson, Missouri
OpenedMay 11, 2009 (2009-05-11)
Elevation AMSL1,302 ft / 397 m
Coordinates36°31′55″N 093°12′02″W
Websitewww.FlyBranson.com
Map
BBG
Location of airport in Missouri / United States
BBG
BBG (the United States)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
14/32 7,140 2,176 Concrete
Statistics (2016)
Aircraft operations6,002
Based aircraft5

Branson Airport’s three-letter location identifier for IATA, is BKG This code should be used when looking up airline flights to/from Branson Airport. The three-letter location identifier from the FAA is BBG. This should be used by pilots when locating the airport.

The airport opened on May 11, 2009. It is currently served by Frontier Airlines. There is also one FBO on the field, named the Branson Jet Center. Two restaurants are located at the airport, one in the main terminal building with access to passengers flying in and out on commercial flights. The other restaurant is open to the public and is located at the Branson Jet Center.

Opening

Prior to construction of Branson Airport, the closest commercial service airport was Springfield-Branson National Airport 62 miles (100 km) northwest of Branson.

The formal grand opening was May 8–10, 2009, during which the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performed during an air show.[2] The first scheduled passenger flight arrived the following day, on May 11, 2009 from Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport operated by Sun Country Airlines with a Boeing 737 jetliner.[2]

There were two airlines operating at the time of Branson's opening, AirTran Airways and Sun Country Airlines. The airport has been serviced by AirTran Airways, SunCountry Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines and several other regional carriers. Currently the airport is served by Frontier Airlines who have operated at the airport for over 8 years.

Flight history

Frontier Airlines launched flights to Branson Airport with daily service to Denver as well as less than daily service to Milwaukee, which was formerly served from Branson through AirTran.

ExpressJet also operated flights under an independent brand known as Branson Air Express to several markets utilizing Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets supporting point-to-point transit.

On February 23, 2011 Branson Airport's largest carrier, AirTran Airways announced added flights from Branson to Baltimore, Chicago-Midway and Houston-Hobby. All flights were announced to be year round.

As of August, 2012 Branson Airport was served with six nonstop departures a day with more than 100 possible connections.

On August 27, 2012, Southwest Airlines announced service to Branson and started service on March 9, 2013. Southwest flew Boeing 737 jetliners nonstop to Chicago-Midway, Dallas-Love, Houston-Hobby and previously flew Saturday only flights to Orlando–International. Southwest Airlines then ended all service into the airport on June 7, 2014.

On February 24, 2014, Frontier Airlines announced their expansion of Branson to Denver service June 9, 2014. Seasonal service ended in October 2014. Frontier Airlines returned to Branson Spring of 2018 serving the Branson market most years since opened in 2009.

On April 3, 2014, Buzz Airways, announced new nonstop service to both Chicago-Midway and Houston-Hobby airports that began June 12, 2014, replacing the lost Southwest Airlines service. As of December 2014, this service was operated by Elite Airways with Canadair CRJ regional jet aircraft. Service to Chicago-Midway has since terminated.

On December 23, 2014, Branson AirExpress announced flights operated by Elite Airways and Buzz Airways will continue in 2015 to Chicago-Midway, (MDW) Houston-Hobby (HOU), Austin (AUS) and Denver (DEN). On January 28, 2015, Branson AirExpress announced it would add an additional operator, Orange Air, flying McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners nonstop to Cincinnati (CVG) and New Orleans (MSY) with direct, one stop service to Cancun, Mexico (CUN) via New Orleans from the Branson Airport starting May 6, 2015. On October 5, 2015 the Cincinnati leg of the Orange Air route was terminated, and the Branson-New Orleans-Cancun portion of the route was transferred to Elite Airways.[3]

Elite Airways and Buzz Airways returned as the scheduled air service providers in 2016.

In 2017, the sole provider is Via Air, operating Embraer EMB-145 regional jets to a number of destinations.

In February 2018, Frontier Airlines announced it was returning to Branson with seasonal service to Denver (DEN) beginning June 13, 2018.[4]

Accidents and incidents

none

Facilities and aircraft

Branson Airport covers an area of 922 acres (373 ha) at an elevation of 1,302 feet (397 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 14/32 with a concrete surface measuring 7,140 by 150 feet (2,176 x 46 m).[1]

Airline and destination
AirlinesDestinations
Frontier Airlines Denver

Development and construction

The construction of the airport, which involved the flattening of several Ozark Mountains, is claimed to be the largest earthmoving project in Missouri history. A press release noted that between groundbreaking in July 2007 and May 2008 11 million cubic yards of earth had been moved.[5]

The $155 million project includes a 7,140-foot (2,180 m) by 150-foot (46 m) runway, numbered 14/32, and a 58,000-square-foot (5,400 m2) terminal designed to accommodate 1.4 million passengers a year. The $155 million cost of the building the terminal included $38 million in private equity and $117 million in tax free bonds underwritten by Citigroup.[6] The high-risk, high-yield bonds (top rate of 6.5%) were issued by the Branson Regional Airport Transportation Development District.[7] The City of Branson will pay a subsidy of $8.24 to Branson Airport LLC for each arriving visitor with an annual cap of $2 Million.<ref name="cityofbranson.org"

The developer was Branson Airport, LLC and AFCO. The Program Manager was Vasey Aviation Group LLC. The master designer was Burns and McDonnell Engineering. McAninch Corporation handled the earth moving operations. A local contractor Dewitt was the contractor handling the terminal construction.

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See also

Nearby General Aviation Airports

Nearest Commercial Airports

References
  1. FAA Airport Master Record for BBG (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2 July 2009
  2. Honey, Mindy (May 2009). "New airport takes off". Branson Daily News. Archived from the original on 2009-06-27.
  3. Sain, Cliff. Change in the Air at Branson Airport, Branson Tri-Lakes News, October 6, 2015, Retrieved 2015-10-9
  4. Libby, Karen. Frontier Returning to Branson Airport, OzarksFirst, February 8, 2018, Retrieved 2018-02-11
  5. http://www.flybranson.com/branson-airport-awards-contract-to-build-terminal Archived June 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. http://www.flybranson.com/construction Archived October 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Cooke, Jeremy R. (June 12, 2009). "Illinois, Cleveland, Branson Sales Lead Municipal Bond Market". Bloomberg.com.
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