Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport (KITH) sits atop East Hill in Lansing, New York, three miles northeast of downtown Ithaca in the Finger Lakes region. It is a county-owned, tower-controlled field offering both scheduled commuter airline service and a long-established general aviation community, making it a useful and instructive stop for the visiting VFR or IFR pilot.
Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport is a county-owned, public-use aerodrome serving Ithaca and the southern Finger Lakes region of New York State. It combines scheduled commercial commuter service with a busy general aviation base, and its hilltop position, single long paved runway and full instrument approaches make it a good training and touring destination for simulator pilots exploring upstate New York.
The airport lies in the Town of Lansing, about three miles northeast of the city of Ithaca, the seat of Tompkins County, in New York's southern Finger Lakes region. It sits near New York State Route 13 and close to Cayuga Lake. Air traffic in the area is worked by Elmira Approach/Departure, with the field itself served by its own control tower.
The airport has one paved physical runway, 14/32, each direction listed as 6,956-6,957 ft long with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 32 is equipped with an instrument landing system. Historical records also mention a shorter turf strip aligned 15/33, though this is not part of the authoritative runway data for the field.
Radio contact is available on CTAF/Tower frequency 119.6 MHz, with Ground on 121.8 MHz. ATIS and ASOS information is broadcast on 125.175 MHz, and UNICOM is on 122.95 MHz. Approach and departure services in the area are provided by Elmira Approach/Departure on 124.3 MHz. A remote VOR/DME facility, listed as RDO Buffalo on 111.8 MHz, supports navigation to and from the field, and Runway 32 has an ILS approach with a medium-intensity approach lighting system and runway alignment indicator lights, while Runway 14 has an instrument approach based on the on-field VOR/DME.
As a tower-controlled airport, arriving and departing traffic operates under air traffic control instructions on 119.6 MHz rather than a self-announce circuit pattern; pilots should expect standard clearance and sequencing procedures typical of a towered field with mixed airline and general aviation traffic.
The airport's hilltop position on East Hill, overlooking Cayuga Lake and close to New York State Route 13, together with the presence of Cornell University to the southwest in Ithaca, serve as useful landmarks when approaching the field visually.
Ithaca's original municipal airport lay west of downtown near the inlet of Cayuga Lake, a site identified as suitable for flying as early as 1914; the Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Co. established a flying school there in 1915, making it reportedly the second airport established in New York State. That airport grew to a 2,700-foot asphalt runway plus a turf strip by the late 1930s and even offered seaplane dock facilities, but its lakeside site was constrained by railway yards, marshland and valley fog. In 1946, Cornell University and the City of Ithaca began planning a replacement on university-owned land at East Hill in Lansing; East Hill Airport opened in 1948 with Robinson Airlines, founded by aviation pioneer Cecil Robinson, as its principal tenant. Robinson Airlines became Mohawk Airlines in 1952 and later merged into Allegheny Airlines. On 11 February 1958 a Mohawk Airlines flight departing Ithaca carried Ruth Carol Taylor, the first African-American flight attendant in US commercial aviation history. Cornell conveyed the airport's 23 parcels of land to Tompkins County on 1 July 1956, at which point it was renamed Tompkins County Airport. A new terminal opened in 1994 alongside a runway extension from 5,801 to 6,602 feet, with a further extension in 2009 bringing Runway 14 to its present length. The airport took its current name, Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, in 2001. Passenger traffic peaked at 226,813 in 1990 before airline consolidation and competition from Syracuse led several carriers to withdraw; Northwest Airlink and US Airways services were added and withdrawn through the mid-2000s, and Continental Connection began Newark service in 2008.
The field remains an active mixed-use airport, home to the East Hill Flying Club, which has offered flight training and club aircraft for more than fifty years, and to Taughannock Aviation Corporation, the airport's fixed base operator providing business jet charter and management services. Scheduled commuter service continues to destinations including New York-JFK and Washington Dulles. Prior permission may be required for some general aviation operations given the airport's towered and commercially served status.
