Departure
90%
vs 95% ▼ 6
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Lancaster Airport (KLNS) is a public-use field four nautical miles north of downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at Lititz, offering an interesting mix of general aviation, flight training, and scheduled commuter airline service. Its long ILS-equipped main runway and secondary crosswind strip make it a practical and instructive destination for VFR and instrument training flights alike in the Lancaster County countryside.
Lancaster Airport sits just north of the city of Lancaster in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and is owned and operated by the Lancaster Airport Authority. It combines scheduled commercial air service - currently including Southern Airways Express, Breeze Airways, and United Express operated by SkyWest - with a busy general aviation community of flight schools, an FBO, hot air balloon operators, and a hangar housing a UH-1 Huey restoration project run by Liberty Warbirds. For a simulator pilot, the field offers a realistic small commercial/GA airport with an ILS approach, a long hard-surfaced main runway, and a shorter crosswind runway, set in the rolling farmland of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
The airport lies about four nautical miles north of the central business district of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, near the intersection of Route 501/Lititz Pike and Airport Road in the townships of Manheim and Warwick, close to the borough of Lititz. Harrisburg Approach/Departure provides the surrounding terminal radar service.
Lancaster has two hard-surfaced, lit physical runways. The main runway, 08/26, is a long strip with runway 08 published at 6,568 feet and runway 26 at 6,858 feet; runway 08 is served by an ILS approach. The secondary runway, 13/31, is 4,080 feet long and also hard-surfaced and lit, giving a crosswind option for lighter traffic.
Harrisburg Approach/Departure works Lancaster traffic on 126.45 MHz. The field's ATIS broadcasts on 125.675 MHz. The common traffic advisory/tower frequency is 120.9 MHz, with ground control on 121.8 MHz. A remote communications outlet to Williamsport Radio is available on 117.3 MHz, and UNICOM operates on 122.95 MHz. Runway 08 carries a published ILS approach.
The airport is readily identified by its position about four to six miles north of Lancaster city along Route 501/Lititz Pike, at its junction with Airport Road, on the southern edge of Lititz. The extensive airport property, with its long 08/26 runway and shorter crossing 13/31 strip amid open farmland, is the principal visual cue for pilots approaching from the surrounding countryside.
Lancaster Airport was established more than 75 years ago as a private airfield before the Lancaster Joint Aviation Committee was formed in 1933 to convert it into a municipal airport. Using war relief funds, and with the added benefit of employing local unemployed construction workers, the committee purchased 180 acres of farmland in southern Lititz and built the airport. By 1936 Lancaster had become the second airport in Pennsylvania to have two hard-surfaced runways, and it was certified for both day and night operations. The terminal was later renovated and expanded in the mid-1990s, and the main runway was subsequently lengthened.
Today the airport hosts both general aviation and scheduled commercial air service, with Southern Airways Express, Breeze Airways, and United Express (operated by SkyWest) all serving the field. Alliance Aviation operates as the airport's FBO, and the field is also home to flight schools including Sport Flying USA and Aero-Tech Services, which offer training and discovery flights. Other on-field operators include the Susquehanna Valley Balloon Company, offering hot air balloon rides, and Abella Aviation, which runs scenic flights over Lancaster County. Liberty Warbirds maintains a UH-1 Huey restoration project in a hangar generally open to visitors on Saturdays. The airport property supports around two dozen aviation-related businesses covering fuelling, maintenance, and aircraft storage.
