Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Olive Branch Airport (KOLV) is a busy general aviation and business-jet field in De Soto County, Mississippi, just south of the Tennessee state line and a short flight from downtown Memphis. Owned and operated by the City of Olive Branch, it offers a single long, lit runway with ILS guidance, a Class D tower and a strong flight-training presence, making it a practical and interesting destination for visiting VFR and IFR traffic alike.
Olive Branch Airport sits in De Soto County, Mississippi, about three nautical miles northeast of the Olive Branch central business district and roughly a 30-minute drive from downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the City of Olive Branch and functions as a general aviation reliever for the Memphis area, handling everything from primary flight training to business jets and light charter operations. Its single 6,000-foot lit runway, instrument approaches and Class D tower make it a capable and approachable field for sim pilots practising both VFR arrivals and instrument procedures.
The airport lies in De Soto County, Mississippi, one mile south of the Tennessee state line and close to the East Memphis, Germantown and Collierville areas. It operates within a Class D surface area while its tower is active, and the field has an up-link to Memphis International Airport's radar, tying its traffic into the wider Memphis terminal environment; Memphis Approach and Departure frequencies are used for arrivals and departures into and out of the Memphis airspace complex.
Olive Branch has a single physical runway, 18/36, of hard surface construction measuring 6,004 feet in length. Both directions are lit and served by an ILS, giving instrument approach capability to either end of the runway.
Radio services include Memphis Approach on 120.07 MHz and Memphis Departure on 124.15 MHz for traffic transiting the wider Memphis airspace. Locally, the airport broadcasts an ATIS on 119.925 MHz (also listed as AWOS-3 on the same frequency), and Ground is on 121.2 MHz. The Tower operates on 125.275 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF/UNICOM frequency when the tower is not staffed. A clearance delivery service is also listed for the field. The airport has an ILS to Runway 18 and a LOC/DME approach to Runway 36, giving instrument access for arrivals in poor weather.
Olive Branch operates a Class D control tower staffed daily from 7am to 9pm CST, with radar handoff to and from Memphis International Airport, so arriving traffic should expect to work with Tower and, where relevant, Memphis Approach or Departure before or after transiting the local pattern. Outside tower hours, 125.275 MHz serves as the CTAF for self-announced arrivals and departures. Pilots should expect mixed traffic ranging from training aircraft to business jets, given the presence of multiple flight schools and charter operators based on the field.
The airport is located three nautical miles northeast of the Olive Branch business district and about one mile south of the Tennessee state line, placing it just beyond the southern edge of the Memphis metropolitan area. Its position roughly ten minutes' flying time from the Memphis city limits and close to the East Memphis, Germantown and Collierville districts makes the built-up Memphis skyline and surrounding suburbs useful distant references when inbound from the north.
Olive Branch Airport traces its origins to the early 1970s, when Holiday Inn began developing what became the Holiday Inn University and Conference Center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, alongside a 3,000-acre industrial park. The airport opened in January 1973 as part of this development, which is known today as the Olive Branch Industrial Park, an 800-acre planned and restricted industrial facility. For decades the field was one of Mississippi's busiest general aviation airports, offering a 6,000-foot paved, lighted runway and full-service fixed-base operations through Olive Branch Aviation. In November 2018, the City of Olive Branch acquired the airport from Belz Enterprises, bringing it fully under municipal ownership and operation.
Today Olive Branch Airport is owned and operated by the City of Olive Branch and remains one of the busiest general aviation airports in the state, recording around 85,000 aircraft operations a year and hosting some 117 based aircraft, including single- and multi-engine piston types, jets and a helicopter. The field has a Class D control tower staffed daily from 7am to 9pm CST, with a radar up-link to Memphis International Airport. Olive Branch Aviation serves as the fixed-base operator, providing both 100LL and Jet-A fuel to based and transient aircraft. The airport supports a significant training and charter community, including the Luke Weathers Flight Academy, Air Venture Flight Center, and, since 2021, a school operated by ATP Flight School, alongside charter operators such as Vectair-USA and OneSky Jets. Facilities include a general aviation terminal, conventional and T-hangars, and paved tie-down space for based and visiting aircraft.