Drake Field facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Drake Field
Fayetteville Executive Airport
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | City of Fayetteville | ||||||||||
| Operator | City of Fayetteville | ||||||||||
| Serves | Fayetteville, Arkansas | ||||||||||
| Location | Greenland, Arkansas | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,251 ft / 381 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 36°00′18″N 094°10′12″W / 36.00500°N 94.17000°W | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 FYV
Location in Arkansas
FYV
Location in the United States
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| Runway | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2020) | |||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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Drake Field (IATA: FYV, ICAO: KFYV, FAA LID: FYV) is a public airport. It is located about three miles south of Fayetteville. The airport is in Washington County, Arkansas. It is also known as Fayetteville Executive Airport. Before, it was called Fayetteville Municipal Airport.
Contents
How Drake Field Served Travelers
Drake Field was the main airport for commercial flights in northwest Arkansas. This was true until 1998. That year, the Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) opened. XNA is located in Highfill, Arkansas.
Early Airlines at Drake Field
Many airlines used to fly from Drake Field. Central Airlines started service in 1955. They used propeller planes like the Douglas DC-3. Later, they flew faster Convair 600 turboprop planes. Central Airlines was bought by the original Frontier Airlines in 1967.
Frontier Airlines began flying jets from Drake Field in 1977. They used Boeing 737-200 planes. These jets flew directly to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW). They also had turboprop flights to other cities. Frontier Airlines stopped serving Fayetteville in 1982.
Local and Regional Flights
Scheduled Skyways was a local airline based in Fayetteville. It was also known as Skyways. In 1974, it flew nonstop to Little Rock and Tulsa. By 1985, Skyways flew to many cities. These included Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis, and Memphis. They used turboprop planes like the Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner. Scheduled Skyways later merged with Air Midwest.
Major Airline Connections in the 1990s
By 1995, five different airlines offered flights from Drake Field. These were regional airlines. They worked with larger airlines through "code sharing" agreements. This meant they flew on behalf of bigger airlines.
- American Eagle flew for American Airlines. They had nonstop flights to Dallas/Fort Worth.
- Delta Connection flew for Delta Air Lines. They also had nonstop flights to Dallas/Fort Worth.
- Northwest Airlink flew for Northwest Airlines. They offered nonstop service to Memphis.
- Trans World Express flew for Trans World Airlines (TWA). They had nonstop flights to St. Louis.
- USAir Express flew for USAir. They offered nonstop flights to Kansas City and Little Rock.
In 1995, there were 44 airline flights every weekday from Drake Field.
Airport Features and Activities
Drake Field covers about 631 acres (255 hectares). It is about 1,251 feet (381 meters) above sea level. The airport has one runway, called 16/34. It is 6,005 feet long and 100 feet wide (1,830 x 30 meters).
Arkansas Air & Military Museum
The Arkansas Air & Military Museum is located at Drake Field. Part of its collection is in a historic hangar. This hangar was built in the 1940s. The museum also has several aircraft displayed outdoors. You can learn about aviation history there.
Airport Operations and Aircraft
In 2020, Drake Field had 24,907 aircraft operations. This means planes took off or landed about 68 times each day. Most of these flights (86%) were for general aviation. This includes private planes. About 8% were air taxi flights, and 6% were military flights.
At that time, 96 aircraft were based at the airport. Most were single-engine planes (73). There were also 7 multi-engine planes, 14 jets, and 2 helicopters.
