Yellowstone Airport - Facilities and Aircraft

Facilities and Aircraft

Yellowstone Airport covers an area of 735 acres (297 ha) at an elevation of 6,649 feet (2,027 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 1/19 with an asphalt surface measuring 8,400 by 150 feet (2,560 x 46 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2010, the airport had 11,105 aircraft operations, an average of 30 per day: 95% general aviation, 5% air taxi, and <1% military.

In the 1960's and 1970's, Western Airlines served the airport on a seasonal basis with Lockheed L-188 "Electra" propjets with the airline then replacing this turboprop service with Boeing 737-200 jet flights direct to Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and southern California. Western was subsequently acquired by Delta Airlines. The original Frontier Airlines served the airport as well with direct Boeing 737-200 jetliner service to Denver which was operated on a seasonal basis.

The airport is currently served on a seasonal basis by SkyWest Airlines operating as the Delta Connection with Embraer EMB-120 "Brasilia" twin turboprop aircraft flying nonstop to and from the Delta hub located at Salt Lake City Airport (SLC).

Aerial Fire Center

Aerial Fire Center is located two miles north of the Yellowstone National Park Gateway community of West Yellowstone, MT, 90 miles south of Bozeman, MT and 100 miles northeast of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The base was established in 1951 at the old airport just west of town and then moved to its present location in 1965.

During the summer the base is home to 21 smokejumpers, pilots for the jump plane and retardant tanker, an office manager and a tanker base manager. The base also supports visiting jumpers, tankers and other aerial resources during times of high fire activity.

West Yellowstone jumpers and tanker are considered national resources. While attached to the Gallatin National Forest with a primary response area of the Gallatin, Shoshone, Beaverhead/Deerlodge, Targhee, Bridger/Teton and Custer National Forests and Yellowstone and Teton National Parks, they can be dispatched anywhere in the country to respond to wildfire.