Clovis Municipal Airport

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Clovis Municipal Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCity of Clovis
ServesClovis, New Mexico
Elevation AMSL4,216 ft / 1,285 m
Coordinates34°25′31″N 103°04′45″W / 34.42528°N 103.07917°W / 34.42528; -103.07917Coordinates: 34°25′31″N 103°04′45″W / 34.42528°N 103.07917°W / 34.42528; -103.07917
Websiteairport.cityofclovis.org
Map
CVN is located in New Mexico
CVN
CVN
Location of airport in New Mexico / United States
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
4/22 7,200 2,195 Asphalt
12/30 5,697 1,736 Asphalt
8/26 2,442 744 Turf
Statistics (2019)
Aircraft operations24,648
Based aircraft56

Clovis Regional Airport (IATA: CVN, ICAO: KCVN, FAA LID: CVN) is a city-owned, public-use airport located six nautical miles (7 mi, 11 km) east of the central business district of Clovis, a city in Curry County, New Mexico, United States.[1] The facility opened in April, 1959 and is mostly used for general aviation, but is also served by one commercial airline. Current scheduled passenger service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation airport (the commercial service category requires at least 2,500 enplanements per year).[2]

Facilities and aircraft[]

Sign at Clovis airport welcoming arrivals
Water tower at Clovis airport, with code CVN

Clovis Municipal Airport covers an area of 1,480 acres (599 ha) at an elevation of 4,216 feet (1,285 m) above mean sea level. It has three runways, two of which have asphalt surfaces: 4/22 is 7,200 by 150 feet (2,195 x 46 m) and 12/30 is 5,697 by 150 feet (1,736 x 46 m). It also has one turf runway designated 8/26 which measures 2,442 by 75 feet (744 x 23 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending February 28, 2019; the airport had 24,648 aircraft operations, an average of 68 per day: 85% general aviation, 7% military and 8% air taxi. At that time there were 56 aircraft based at this airport: 73% single-engine, 14% multi-engine, 11% jet, and 2% helicopter.[1]

Airline and destination[]

AirlinesDestinations
Denver Air Connection Dallas/Fort Worth,[3] Denver

Historical airline service[]

Clovis was a stop on the first coast to coast "air rail" service between Los Angeles and New York City which began in 1929.[4] Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) used a Ford Trimotor aircraft to fly passengers between Los Angeles and Clovis with en route stops at Kingman and Winslow, AZ as well as Albuquerque, NM. At Clovis, passengers heading east would then transfer to and board an overnight train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to Waynoka, OK where they would connect to another TAT operated Ford Trimotor aircraft the next morning and continue their journey to Port Columbus, OH where they would transfer again for the final stage of the journey to New York City via the Pennsylvania Railroad. The same rail and flight services, transfers and connecting points were used by passengers heading west. In late 1930 the service had been modified to where the aircraft would fly the western portion of the service with a stop in Amarillo, TX rather than Clovis. Transcontinental Air Transport went on to merge with Western Air Express and form what would become Trans World Airlines (TWA).

In 1948 a new carrier, Pioneer Airlines, began serving Clovis with the airport being one of several stops on a route between Albuquerque and Dallas. The other stops included Santa Fe, Las Vegas, and Tucumcari, NM as well as Lubbock, Abilene, Mineral Wells, and Ft. Worth, TX. A second route was created between Amarillo and El Paso with stops at Clovis, Roswell, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. This route crossed at Clovis with the initial route between Albuquerque and Dallas so as to make Clovis a small hub where passengers were able to connect between the two routes. Initially the airline used 21-seat Douglas DC-3 aircraft but upgraded to the 36-seat Martin 2-0-2 in 1952.

In 1955 Pioneer was acquired by and merged into Continental Airlines which maintained the same route, minus some of the stops, and also upgraded its service with Convair 340 prop aircraft followed by the four-engine, British manufactured Vickers Viscount turboprop in 1959. According to the September 27, 1959 Continental Airlines system timetable, the Viscount was being operated on a routing of Dallas Love Field-Fort Worth (via Greater Southwest International Airport)-Abilene-Lubbock-Clovis-Santa Fe-Albuquerque.[5] Initially, all airline service had been operated via the current Cannon Air Force Base and was then transferred to the present municipal airport which opened in April, 1959.

As Continental was growing into a major airline, they transferred all of their Clovis service as well as service to other smaller cities in New Mexico to Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) in 1963. Trans-Texas again kept the same routing with flights to Albuquerque and Dallas originally reverting to DC-3 aircraft but later upgrading to Convair 240 prop aircraft followed by Convair 600 turboprops. TTa then changed its name to Texas International Airlines (TI) in 1969 and for a brief period during the late 1970s, TI introduced 85-seat Douglas DC-9-10 jet service to Clovis. This was the only time Clovis had jet service which was operated via the Cannon AFB airfield in order to accommodate the DC-9s. In 1978 Texas International reverted to using Convair-600s via the Clovis Municipal Airport with service only being flown to Albuquerque.

As Texas International was now growing into a larger all-jet airline, TI discontinued its flights in early 1979 and service was transferred to two smaller commuter airlines, Air Midwest and Crown Aviation. Crown had started service at Clovis two years prior with flights to Albuquerque and Lubbock but went out of business in 1980. Air Midwest used 17-seat Swearingen Metroliner propjets with flights to Albuquerque, Amarillo, and Wichita. Mesa Airlines began serving Clovis in 1985 using Beechcraft 99 followed by Beechcraft 1900 turboprop airliners on flights to Albuquerque. Air Midwest discontinued their service shortly afterwards. Mesa continued to serve the city for 20 years until 2005 when service was replaced by Great Lakes Aviation which operated flights to Albuquerque as well as a flight to Amarillo and Denver using Beechcraft 1900D turboprops. The flight to Amarillo was later dropped and all service was briefly shifted to a Clovis-Santa Fe-Denver route in 2012 before Great Lakes ended all flights on January 31, 2014. Clovis was without any airline service until July 2014 when Boutique Air inaugurated three daily nonstop flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth using 8-seat Pilatus PC-12 aircraft via a federal Essential Air Service contract.[6] In August 2018, Boutique Air upgraded the aircraft used to multi-engine, nine-seat Beechcraft Super King Air model 350s. Boutique Air's EAS contract ended on May 1, 2020, at which time Key Lime Air dba Denver Air Connection began two daily flights to Denver using Fairchild Dornier 328Jet aircraft.[7] In late 2021, Denver Air Connection added a daily flight to Dallas/Fort Worth while reducing flights to Denver from two to one per day. The airline also upgraded the aircraft used to a 50-seat Embraer-145.

Statistics[]

Top domestic destinations
(March 2019 - February 2020)[8]
Rank City Airport name & IATA code Passengers
1 Dallas, TX Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport 5,570
Passenger boardings (enplanements) by year, as per the FAA[9]
Year 2008 [10] 2009 [11] 2010 [12] 2011 [13] 2012 [14] 2013[15] 2014[16] 2015[17] 2016[18] 2017[19] 2018[20] 2019[21] 2020[22]
Enplanements 2,419 2,028 2,165 2,033 1,694 1,384 1,952 4,799 4,854 5,053 4,750 5,335 2,643
Change Decrease05.54% Decrease016.16% Increase06.76% Decrease06.10% Decrease016.67% Decrease018.30% Increase041.04% Increase0145.85% Increase01.15% Increase04.10% Decrease06.00% Increase012.3% Decrease050.46%
Airline Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines Boutique Air Boutique Air Boutique Air Boutique Air Boutique Air Boutique Air Denver Air
Destination(s) Albuquerque Albuquerque Albuquerque Albuquerque Albuquerque Liberal
Pueblo
Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Denver

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d FAA Airport Form 5010 for CVN PDF. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective April 5, 2012.
  2. ^ "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF, 2.03 MB) on 2012-09-27.
  3. ^ "Clovis Regional Airport Announces Flight Service to Dallas -". September 14, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  4. ^ Sept. 11, 1929 Transcontinental Air Transport system timetable (including connecting railroad schedules)
  5. ^ Sept. 27, 1959 Continental Airlines system timetable
  6. ^ Timetables from the various airlines that have served Clovis, NM
  7. ^ Albuquerque Journal May 5, 2020
  8. ^ "Clovis, NM: Clovis Municipal (CVN)". Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), U.S. Department of Transportation. February 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Passenger Boarding (Enplanement) and All-Cargo Data for U.S. Airports – Airports". www.faa.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  10. ^ "2008 Primary, Non-primary Commercial Service, and General Aviation Airports with Enplanements (by State)" (PDF, 1.0 MB). CY 2008 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data. Federal Aviation Administration. December 18, 2009.
  11. ^ "2009 Primary, Non-primary Commercial Service, and General Aviation Airports (by State)" (PDF, 891 KB). CY 2009 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data]. Federal Aviation Administration. November 23, 2010.
  12. ^ "2010 Primary, Non-primary Commercial Service, and General Aviation Airports (by State)" (PDF, 189 KB). CY 2010 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data]. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2011.
  13. ^ "2011 Enplanements at Primary, Non-primary Commercial Service, and General Aviation Airports (by State)" (PDF). CY 2011 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data]. Federal Aviation Administration. October 9, 2012.
  14. ^ "2012 Enplanements at All Airports (Primary, Non-primary Commercial Service, and General Aviation) by State and Airport" (PDF). CY 2012 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data]. Federal Aviation Administration. October 31, 2013.
  15. ^ "All Airports with CY 2013 Enplanements" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-10-20. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  16. ^ "Calendar Year 2014 Enplanements by State" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-07-01.
  17. ^ "Calendar Year 2015 Enplanements by State" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-09-27.
  18. ^ "Calendar Year 2016 Final Revenue Enplanements at All Airports" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-12-01.
  19. ^ "Calendar Year 2017 Final Revenue Enplanements at All Airports" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-10-17.
  20. ^ "Calendar Year 2018 Final Revenue Enplanements at All Airports" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-10-17.
  21. ^ "Calendar Year 2019 Final Revenue Enplanements at All Airports" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-08-15.
  22. ^ "Calendar Year 2020 Final Revenue Enplanements at All Airports" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-08-15.

Other sources[]

  • Essential Air Service documents (Docket OST-1996-1902) from the U.S. Department of Transportation:
    • Order 2004-12-21 (December 29, 2004): selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide essential air service with 19-passenger Beech B1900D aircraft at Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming, New Mexico, for two years at a combined annual subsidy rate of $1,718,113.
    • Order 2007-3-18 (March 20, 2007): selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming, New Mexico, for two years, beginning May 1, 2007, through April 30, 2009. Clovis will receive 18 one-stop round trips per week to Denver at an annual subsidy of $999,932. Silver City/Hurley/Deming will receive 12 nonstop weekly round trips to Phoenix at an annual subsidy of $992,799. Both communities will be served with 19-passenger Beech 1900 aircraft. The total combined annual subsidy is $1,992,731.
    • Order 2007-4-5 (April 4, 2007): the Department is granting the motion of Grant County, New Mexico, to file a petition for reconsideration of Order 2007-3-18, issued March 20, 2007, and, upon review, deciding to vacate the earlier decision and resolicit Essential Air Service proposals.
    • Order 2007-5-19 (May 31, 2007): selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming, New Mexico, for two years, beginning May 1, 2007, through April 30, 2009. Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming each will receive 12 nonstop round trips per week to Albuquerque with 19-passenger Beechcraft 1900D aircraft at an annual combined subsidy of $2,365,290.
    • Order 2009-3-3 (March 6, 2009): re-selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. to provide essential air service (EAS) at Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming, New Mexico, at a combined annual subsidy rate of $2,959,451 ($1,517,277 for Clovis and $1,442,174 for Silver City), for the two-year period from May 1, 2009, through April 30, 2011.
    • Order 2011-4-19 (April 22, 2011): reselects Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide subsidized EAS with 19-passenger Beechcraft B-1900D aircraft at Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming, New Mexico (Silver City), for the period from May 1, 2011 to May 31, 2013, at a combined annual subsidy rate of $3,186,249.
    • Ninety-Day Notice (June 4, 2012) of Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. serving notice of intent to terminate scheduled air service to·Clovis, New Mexico and Silver City/Hurley/Deming, New Mexico from Albuquerque, New Mexico effective September 3, 2012.

External links[]

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