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Gastonia Municipal Airport is a city-owned general aviation field a few miles south of downtown Gastonia, North Carolina, and about ten miles west of Charlotte Douglas International. It offers a single lit hard-surfaced runway, an FBO operation, and a mix of private and corporate traffic that makes it a straightforward VFR destination for pilots exploring the Charlotte metro area.
Gastonia Municipal Airport (KAKH) is a public-use, city-owned general aviation airport serving Gastonia, North Carolina, and the surrounding Gaston County area. It was built by the City of Gastonia in 1946 and remains a self-supporting municipal department, with day-to-day operations handled by a contracted fixed base operator. For a simulator pilot, it is a compact but active field offering a realistic short-runway general aviation environment close to the much larger Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
The airport lies about four nautical miles south of the central business district of Gastonia, in Gaston County, North Carolina, just off Union Road. Charlotte Douglas International Airport is roughly ten miles to the east, and pilots operating in the area will find Charlotte Approach/Departure providing radar services on 134.75 MHz. The field itself is a general aviation facility without its own control tower.
Gastonia Municipal has a single physical runway, 03/21, with a hard, lit surface. Runway 03 measures 3,733 feet in length, while the reciprocal Runway 21 measures 3,652 feet. There is no instrument landing system at the field.
Traffic at Gastonia Municipal is coordinated on the CTAF/UNICOM frequency of 123 MHz, which serves as the common calling frequency for an airport without an operating control tower. An ASOS automated weather observation is broadcast on 135.725 MHz. Pilots transiting or arriving in the wider Charlotte area can expect to work Charlotte Approach/Departure on 134.75 MHz.
As an airport without a control tower, arriving and departing traffic self-announces and coordinates on the 123 MHz CTAF/UNICOM frequency. No published circuit heights, noise abatement procedures, or local joining instructions beyond standard CTAF practice are detailed for the field.
The airport sits just off Union Road and Gaston Day School Road, south of downtown Gastonia, which serve as useful ground references when inbound. The proximity of Charlotte Douglas International Airport ten miles to the east is a useful regional landmark for orientation when navigating toward Gastonia from the Charlotte area.
Gastonia Municipal Airport was built by the City of Gastonia in 1946 and has operated ever since as a self-supporting municipal department, drawing revenue from fuel sales, hangar rentals, land lease fees, and tax revenue. It has long been regarded as one of the more active general aviation facilities in North Carolina, and it continues to serve a growing number of corporate aircraft. Area emergency medical services and law enforcement agencies also use the airport as a heliport and transport point.
The airport is owned by the City of Gastonia and operated under a fixed base operator arrangement; Academy of Aviation became the FBO at Gastonia Municipal on July 1, 2018. More than thirty hangars accommodate private aircraft owners with easy access to the runway and a full parallel taxiway, and the field continues to attract corporate aircraft operations alongside its general aviation traffic. Fuel sales and hangar rental are among the airport's ongoing revenue-generating services.
