Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Chippewa Valley Regional Airport (KEAU) lies three miles north of downtown Eau Claire in west-central Wisconsin, serving as the largest airport in the northern third of the state. It is a county-owned field with a control tower, full ILS approach and a mix of commercial, general-aviation and business traffic, making it a straightforward and well-equipped stop for the VFR sim pilot.
Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, known locally as CVRA, sits just north of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and is owned and operated by Eau Claire County. It is the primary commercial-service airport for the Chippewa Valley region and the largest airport across the thirty-county northwestern Wisconsin area, combining scheduled airline service with a substantial general-aviation and corporate presence, including Eau Claire-based retailer Menards, which bases part of its aircraft fleet here. For a simulator pilot the field offers a long ILS-equipped main runway, a control tower, and a manageable but genuine slice of American regional-airport operations.
The airport is located in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, about three miles north of downtown Eau Claire. It is served by an air traffic control tower and receives approach and departure services from Minneapolis Approach/Departure. It is occasionally used as an alternate landing site for flights bound for Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, reflecting its position within the wider Minneapolis terminal and en-route airspace structure.
The airport has two physical runways. Runway 04/22 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway recorded at 7,289 feet for runway 04 and 8,087 feet for runway 22, with runway 22 equipped with an ILS approach. Runway 14/32 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of 4,996 feet in both directions. Field elevation is 892 feet.
Air traffic control (tower/approach-departure) is available on 125.3 MHz, with Minneapolis Approach/Departure providing service to arriving and departing traffic. The airport's ASOS broadcasts on 119.675 MHz. A remote Green Bay Radio outlet is available on 122.65 MHz, and UNICOM/CTAF is on 123 MHz. Runway 22 is served by an ILS approach.
The airport's origins trace to 1923, when 80 acres of land in Putnam Heights were purchased to build an airfield, and to 1929, when Eau Claire Airways began operating from the site, offering flight training and scheduled air-taxi service to destinations in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Work on a new airport site north of Eau Claire began in 1939, and Eau Claire County Airport commenced operations at the current location in 1940. Eau Claire Municipal Airport opened in 1945, and Chippewa Valley Regional Airport was officially opened in 1947 with the arrival of a Northwest Airlines DC-3, at a time when Eau Claire had three separate airports. The terminal was expanded in 1981 and remodeled again in 2009. A new control tower, costing 3.9 million dollars and standing 65 feet tall, was built in 2005 and opened in November 2006. Passenger boarding moved from the ramp to a jetbridge in the spring of 2011. In 2015 the Airport Commission Room was renamed the Duax Commission Room in honour of long-time airport supporter and former commissioner David Duax. More recently, SkyWest Airlines, which had operated as an Essential Air Service carrier until leaving the market in November 2022, returned to the airport on 13 December 2024 with United Express service to Chicago O'Hare, following a period in which Sun Country Airlines provided the airport's highest enplanement figures in fifteen years.
Chippewa Valley Regional Airport covers about 1,100 acres and remains primarily a general-aviation and business-travel field, hosting the based fleet of Eau Claire retailer Menards alongside a substantial general-aviation population; as of August 2024 there were 91 based aircraft, comprising single- and multi-engine piston types, jets, helicopters and one military aircraft. Scheduled airline service is limited, with United Express, operated by SkyWest Airlines, flying to Chicago O'Hare and Sun Country Airlines offering seasonal service to Florida. The terminal building is reported to open at 3:30 am and remain open until at least 11:30 pm daily, with variations around holidays and flight schedules.
