Departure
95%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Elko Regional Airport (KEKO), also known as J.C. Harris Field, lies about a mile west of downtown Elko in northeastern Nevada and has served as an aviation waypoint since the earliest days of transcontinental air mail. Today it is a non-hub commercial field offering Delta Connection service alongside a busy general aviation and corporate base, set at high elevation beneath the Ruby Mountains.
Elko Regional Airport, officially named J.C. Harris Field, is a city-owned public airport serving Elko, Nevada and the surrounding northeastern Nevada region. It combines scheduled Delta Connection service to Salt Lake City with a substantial general aviation, corporate, medical and firefighting aircraft presence, and is of interest to visiting pilots both for its role in early American commercial aviation and for its high-elevation, mountain-adjacent flying environment.
The airport sits approximately one mile west of downtown Elko, Elko County, Nevada. Approach and departure control is provided through Salt Lake Center on 132.25 MHz, and Reno Flight Service is available on 122.60 MHz. The Bullion VOR, on 114.50 MHz, lies in the vicinity and can assist with navigation to and from the field.
Elko Regional Airport has two paired runways. The main runway, 06/24, is 7,441 ft long with a hard (asphalt) surface and runway lighting; runway 24 is equipped with an ILS and has a usable landing length of 6,399 ft. The secondary runway, 12/30, has a hard surface and is approximately 2,857 ft long, without lighting noted. Field elevation is 5,079 ft.
The airport broadcasts weather via ASOS on 119.275 MHz. The common traffic advisory frequency and UNICOM are both on 123.0 MHz. Salt Lake Center handles approach and departure control on 132.25 MHz, and Reno Flight Service Station can be reached on 122.60 MHz. The Bullion VOR (114.50 MHz) serves as a local navigation aid, and runway 24 is served by an ILS approach.
Aviation at Elko dates back to March 1919, when the U.S. Post Office asked the Mayor of Elko to establish a rudimentary airfield on former Southern Pacific Railroad stockyard land. On 6 April 1926 the field became the terminus for one of the first scheduled air mail runs in the United States, flown by Varney Air Lines' Leon Cuddleback from Pasco, Washington. The airfield was known as Elko Airport, then Keddie Field by 1935, Elko Municipal Airport by 1947, and finally Elko Regional Airport by the 2000s; it was named J.C. Harris Field in 1975 in honour of Jess C. Harris, an Elko sheriff known as "The Flying Sheriff". Through the following decades Elko was served in turn by Boeing Air Transport, National Air Transport, United Airlines (using Boeing 247s, Douglas DC-3s, Convair 340s, Douglas DC-6Bs, Convair 580s and Boeing 737-200s), and a succession of commuter and charter operators including Scenic Airlines, Sun Valley Key Commuter, Chaparral Aviation, Royal West Airlines, Casino Express Airlines (later Xtra Airways) and SkyWest Airlines, the latter continuing today as a Delta Connection carrier. On 5 September 1946 a Trans-Luxury Airlines Douglas DC-3 crashed into a hillside 2.5 miles west of the airport after losing visual contact in ground fog, killing 20 of the 21 people aboard.
Elko Regional Airport covers over 700 acres and remains open year round in all weather conditions, making it the only airport in the area with that capability. It handles scheduled Delta Connection flights to Salt Lake City alongside general aviation, corporate aviation, medical flights, air cargo and firefighting air operations. An FBO based at the field, Mountain West Aviation, provides facilities for visiting aviators.
