Tuscaloosa National Airport
Tuscaloosa Regional Airport (IATA Airport code TCL) is a public airport located three miles northwest of the central business district of Tuscaloosa, in Tuscaloosa County. It is owned by the City of Tuscaloosa.
In 2006 the city authorized funding for airline courting, in an effort to revive commercial service to the airport. The city and airport officials believed that the city was in a different economic picture with the Mercedes-Benz US International assembly plant located in the city.
As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 1,309 commercial passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2004 and 1,497 enplanements in 2005. The majority of this traffic were athletic charters from the University of Alabama. According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007-2011, Tuscaloosa Regional is classified as a general aviation airport.
On August 14, 2016 a fatal plane crash occurred during an attempted emergency landing on Runway 30. Six people who were on their way from Florida to Oxford, Mississippi, died in the incident.
Facilities and aircraft
Tuscaloosa Regional Airport covers an area of 724 acres which contains two asphalt paved runways: 4/22 measuring 6,499 x 150 feet and 11/29 measuring 4,001 x 100 feet. For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2005, the airport had 58,206 aircraft operations, an average of 159 per day: 78% general aviation, 19% military, 2% air taxi and <1% scheduled commercial.
Previous service
Currently, Tuscaloosa Regional does not feature regularly scheduled commercial air service. Throughout its history various carriers served the airport including:
- Atlantic Southeast Airlines dba Delta Connection, provided daily service between Tuscaloosa and Atlanta between 1982 and June 1992.
- American Eagle served Tuscaloosa Regional with regular turbo-prop service to its regional hub in Nashville. In December 1995, service was discontinued due to Nashville losing its hub status for American Airlines leaving travelers from Tuscaloosa with few connection options. Due to low ridership, during its final month operating out of Tuscaloosa, all flights were routed through the Birmingham Municipal Airport going to and from Tuscaloosa. Service was then briefly added between Tuscaloosa and Dallas/Fort Worth with an intermediary stop in Jackson, Mississippi. Due to low ridership, the service discontinued on April 18, 1997.
- GP Express provided service to Atlanta from June 6, 1992, through the elimination of the EAS subsidy for its operation on June 30, 1994.
- Sunbelt Airlines provided 2 daily flights to Memphis from June 1, 1984 through its elimination of service on September 13, 1984.
- Southern Airways commenced Tuscaloosa's first service on June 10, 1949, on a 25-seat Douglas DC-3 as one of the original six destinations served by Southern Airways. Service would peak in the mid-1970s with eight daily arrivals and departures to Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans. Southern merged into Republic Airlines in 1979, and service was discontinued altogether on June 1, 1984.
References
- "Tuscaloosa Regional Airport" (November 14, 2007) Wikipedia - accessed March 27, 2008
- FAA Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data: 2005
- FAA National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems: 2007-2011
- News Briefs (November 17, 1995) "News briefs: Metro." Birmingham News.
- Nicholson, Gilbert (April 18, 1997). "Last call for boarding...Tuscaloosa loses its airline service today." The Tuscaloosa News.
- Heine, Max (September 11, 1984). "Airline leaving Tuscaloosa". The Tuscaloosa News.
- Nicholson, Gilbert (April 18, 1997). "1970s saw 8 flights a day from Tuscaloosa". The Tuscaloosa News.