Oneida County Airport

Oneida County Airport
Oneida County Airport
	IATA:UCA; ICAO:KUCA; FAALID:UCA;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Oneida County
Serves	Utica, New York
Location	Whitestown, New York
ElevationAMSL	742 ft / 226 m
Coordinates	43°08′36″N075°22′48″W/ 43.14333°N 75.38000°W
Maps
	; FAA airport diagram
Runways
	Source:Federal Aviation Administration

Oneida County Airport(IATA:UCA,ICAO:KUCA,FAA LID:UCA) was a publicairportinWhitestowninOneida County,New York,six miles (9.7 km) northwest of downtownUtica.The airport covered 1,800 acres (7.3 km²) and had tworunways.^[1]

Oneida County closed the airport in January 2007 and transferred operations toGriffiss International Airport,(formerlyGriffiss Air Force Base) about five miles (8.0 km) to the north inRome, New York.

Federal Aviation Administrationrecords say the airport boarded 2,122 passengers incalendar year2004 and 1,951 in 2005.^[2]The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011 classified it as ageneral aviationairport.^[3]

History

In the 1940s, Utica Municipal Airport was a sod field (no paved runways) at43°10′16″N75°18′50″W/ 43.171°N 75.314°W/43.171; -75.314;Oneida County Airport may not have opened until after 1950.

In the 1960s,Mohawk Airlinesstopped at Utica as did its successorAllegheny Airlinesin the 1970s andEmpire Airlinesin the 1980s; the first jets were MohawkBAC One-Elevensin 1965. Allegheny usedDouglas DC-9sand BAC One-Elevens until early 1979 when it abandoned the market to Empire.^[4]Empire merged intoPiedmont Airlines,which merged intoUSAir,the renamed Allegheny. USAir had a presence at UCA until 1995 when it ended jet flights and closed its maintenance base and reservations center.

UCA had no airline service afterContinental ConnectioncarrierCommutAirleft on June 30, 2002. In its final years, UCA flights had been under theEASprogram; declining ridership led the required subsidy to breach the $200 per passenger statutory cap.

Service shifted to nearbyGriffiss International Airportwhen Oneida closed.

The former airport site was purchased from Oneida County byNew York Stateand is now the home of the New York State Preparedness Training Center (SPTC).