Grant County Airport (IATA: SVC, ICAO: KSVC, FAA LID: SVC) is a county-owned, public-use airport in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. It is located 10 nautical miles (12 mi, 19 km) southeast of the central business district of Silver City, New Mexico.[1] The airport is mostly used for general aviation, but is also served by one commercial airline. Service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

Grant County Airport
IATA: SVC ICAO: KSVC FAA LID: SVC
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Grant County
Serves	Silver City, New Mexico
Elevation AMSL	5,446 ft / 1,660 m
Coordinates	32°38′12″N 108°09′23″W
Website	SVC website
Map
SVC Location of airport in New Mexico / United States Show map of New Mexico SVC SVC (the United States) Show map of the United States
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 8/26 6,802 2,073 Asphalt 17/35 5,473 1,668 Dirt 12/30 4,675 1,425 Dirt 3/21 4,537 1,383 Dirt
Statistics (2018)
Aircraft operations 5,675 Based aircraft 26
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a non-primary commercial service airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year).[2]

Facilities and aircraft

Grant County Airport covers an area of 740 acres (299 ha) at an elevation of 5,446 feet (1,660 m) above mean sea level. It has four runways, including one asphalt paved runway 8/26 measuring 6,802 by 100 feet (2,073 x 30 m). The remaining three runways have dirt surfaces: 17/35 is 5,473 by 75 feet (1,668 x 23 m), 12/30 is 4,675 by 75 feet (1,425 x 23 m), and 3/21 is 4,537 by 80 feet (1,383 x 24 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2018, the airport had 5,675 aircraft operations, an average of 16 per day: 63% general aviation, 22% scheduled commercial, <1% air taxi, and <1% military. At that time there were 26 aircraft based at this airport: 81% single-engine, 15% multi-engine, and <1% helicopter.[1]

In 2020 the terminal building, named for David D, Diaz, underwent an expansion and rehabilitation.

Airline and destinations

This section does not cite any sources. (January 2022)

Advanced Air operates Raytheon King Air 350 turboprop aircraft on all flights. The aircraft has eight seats arranged in an executive configuration.

Historical airline service

The Grant County Airport was dedicated on November 30, 1951, serving the communities of Silver City, Hurley, Lordsburg and Deming, New Mexico, as well as smaller communities in the so-called "Mining District," including Arenas Valley, Fort Bayard, Central (now Santa Clara), Bayard, and Santa Rita.The next day, on December 1, Frontier Airlines began operating flights from the airport as a stop on their route from El Paso to Phoenix, which also included stops at Clifton, Safford, and Tucson, Arizona. Before the opening of the Grant County Airport, the airline was serving local airports in Deming, NM and Lordsburg, NM; however, service to those cities was then discontinued. By 1956 the route to Phoenix was modified to originate in Albuquerque rather than El Paso and service to Clifton and Safford was later discontinued which made for nonstop flights from Silver City to Tucson and Phoenix. At that time and on into the mid-1960s, the airline was flying the Douglas DC-3. Later, Frontier served the airport with larger Convair 340 prop aircraft followed by Convair 580 turboprops. Frontier's flights to Tucson and Phoenix were discontinued in 1974 and a small commuter carrier, Zia Airlines, began flights to Albuquerque with Handley Page Jetstream propjets in 1976. In the midst of growing into an all jet airline, Frontier ended their service in late 1979. Zia Airlines went out of business in early 1980 and Air Midwest began operating later that year with flights to Albuquerque using Swearingen Metroliner aircraft. Another commuter, Airways of New Mexico, operated flights to El Paso for a short time in 1980 as well. Mesa Airlines came to Silver City with Beechcraft 99 and Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from Albuquerque in 1985 at which time Air Midwest ended their service. Mesa's flights continued for 20 years until an Essential Air Service (EAS) contract was awarded to Great Lakes Airlines in 2005. Great Lakes started service with flights to Albuquerque, also using Beech 1900D's, but switched the flights to Phoenix in late 2012. Great Lakes ended all service in late 2014 and the EAS contract was then awarded to Boutique Air which began service in early 2015. Boutique provided flights to both Albuquerque and Phoenix using Pilatus PC-12 aircraft for four years until the EAS contract was then transferred to Advanced Air. Advanced Air began service in early 2019 with similar service to Albuquerque and Phoenix but uses a larger, multi engine, Beechcraft Super King Air model 350.[3] Two other commuter airlines that served the Silver City to El Paso market for short periods were Aztec Airlines in 1966 and Turner Air in 1985.

Statistics

Passenger boardings (enplanements) by year, as per the FAA[5]

Year	2009 [6]	2010 [7]	2011 [8]	2012 [9]	2013[10]	2014[11]	2015[12]	2016[13]	2017[14]	2018[15]	2019[16]
Enplanements	1,860	1,501	1,609	1,363	1,670	1,128	3,945	5,442	5,686	5,949	5,968
Change	028.65%	019.30%	07.20%	015.29%	022.52%	032.46%	0249.73%	037.95%	04.48%	04.63%	00.32%
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	Advanced Air
Destination(s)	Albuquerque	Albuquerque	Albuquerque	Albuquerque	Phoenix	Phoenix	Albuquerque	Albuquerque Phoenix	Albuquerque Phoenix	Albuquerque Phoenix	Albuquerque Phoenix

References

Other sources

External links

• FBO Grant County
• Aerial image as of September 1996 from USGS The National Map
• FAA Terminal Procedures for SVC, effective October 6, 2022
• Resources for this airport:
  • FAA airport information for SVC
  • AirNav airport information for KSVC
  • ASN accident history for SVC
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures