Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Central Nebraska Regional Airport (KGRI) lies three miles northeast of Grand Island, Nebraska, on the site of the former Grand Island Army Airfield. It is a towered field with two paved runways, an ILS approach, and a mix of airline, general aviation, and Nebraska National Guard traffic, making it a useful and well-equipped stop for visiting VFR pilots in the central Plains.
Central Nebraska Regional Airport serves Grand Island, Nebraska, and is owned by the Hall County Airport Authority. It combines scheduled airline service, general aviation activity, and a Nebraska National Guard presence, with a control tower and instrument approach capability that make it a straightforward and well-served destination for a simulator pilot exploring the region.
The airport sits three miles northeast of Grand Island in Hall County, Nebraska. It is an FAA-towered airport, and Minneapolis Center provides overlying en-route control services.
KGRI has two paved runways. Runway 17/35 is 6,992 feet long with a hard surface and lighting, and runway 35 is equipped with an ILS. Runway 13/31 is 6,593 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 1,841 feet.
Grand Island Tower operates on 118.2 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF. Ground control is on 121.9 MHz, and the same 121.9 MHz frequency is listed for clearance delivery. ATIS broadcasts on 127.4 MHz. Minneapolis Center is available on 119.4 MHz for en-route work, and Columbus Radio can be reached on 122.45 MHz. Unicom is on 122.95 MHz, and a separate Army National Guard operations frequency is published on 38 MHz. Runway 35 has an ILS approach.
The airport occupies the former site of Grand Island Army Airfield, and around a dozen military-era buildings survive today, including several hangars, former warehouses now used for commercial storage, sheds, and the old parachute building. United Airlines began the airport's commercial airline history in the mid-1930s, adding it as a stop on its transcontinental San Francisco to New York route, initially with Boeing 247s and later Douglas DC-3s and Convair 340s. Frontier Airlines took over service in 1959 on a Denver-Kansas City routing and later introduced Boeing 737 jet service in 1970 before ending mainline jet operations in 1984. From the late 1970s through the 2000s a long succession of commuter carriers served Grand Island, including Air Wisconsin, Air Nebraska, Pioneer Airlines, Rocky Mountain Airways, Air Midwest, Midcontinent Airlines, the locally headquartered GP Express Airlines, and Great Lakes Airlines, several operating under code-share names such as Continental Express, Eastern Express, Braniff Express and United Express. Since 1990 the airport's airline service has been supported under the federal Essential Air Service program. The Nebraska National Guard has maintained a presence on the airfield since 2004, with a base opening in 2008, and the airport has since been selected as a new Chinook helicopter base.
Central Nebraska Regional Airport currently receives scheduled airline service from Allegiant Air and from American Eagle under the Essential Air Service program. In the year ending June 2022 the airport recorded 20,074 aircraft operations, roughly 55 per day, split between general aviation, air taxi, military, and commercial traffic, with 37 aircraft based on the field. A new passenger terminal opened in April 2016. The Nebraska National Guard operates from the airport as a helicopter base.
