Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Pocatello Regional Airport (KPIH) lies some seven nautical miles northwest of central Pocatello, Idaho, on the site of a former World War II Army Airfield, and today serves as the region's main scheduled-airline and general aviation gateway. It offers a long primary runway with an ILS approach, tower service, and a mix of airline, charter and training traffic for visiting VFR pilots to be aware of.
Pocatello Regional Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport serving Pocatello, Chubbuck and the wider southeast Idaho region. It sits on the former grounds of Pocatello Army Airfield, a Second World War heavy bomber training base, and today combines scheduled Delta Connection service with a lively general aviation community, making it an interesting stop for a simulator pilot combining airline-style approaches with GA operations at a high-elevation mountain-valley field.
The airport is in Bannock County, Idaho, about seven nautical miles northwest of central Pocatello, and is bounded to the south by Interstate 86; it lies several miles southeast of American Falls Reservoir. En-route traffic in the area works Salt Lake City Center, and clearance delivery for the field is handled on the same center frequency. With an operating control tower and published instrument approaches, arriving pilots should expect to work Pocatello tower rather than operate on a simple uncontrolled CTAF basis.
Pocatello Regional has two paired runways. Runway 03/21 is the longer of the two at 9,043 feet, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS serving runway 21. Runway 17/35 is 7,137 feet, also hard-surfaced and lit. Field elevation is 4,446 feet.
The tower and CTAF frequency is 119.1 MHz, with ground control on 121.9 MHz. Clearance delivery is provided through Salt Lake City Center on 128.35 MHz. An automated weather observation is broadcast on 135.625 MHz (ASOS), and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. A remote communications outlet to Boise Radio (flight service) is on 122.35 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS to runway 21.
Pocatello Regional Airport occupies the site of Pocatello Army Airfield, built in 1943 as a Second Air Force training base for heavy bombers, including the B-17 and B-24. The airfield became surplus property after the war and was acquired by the city of Pocatello in 1949 to develop as a commercial airport; many of the original military buildings have since been razed, though four large hangars from that era remain. Airline service over the following decades included Western Airlines, which flew Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops and later Boeing 737-200 jets on routes to Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, followed by Hughes Airwest with Douglas DC-9 jetliners in the mid-1970s and Cascade Airways with BAC One-Eleven jets and Fairchild Metro turboprops in the mid-1980s. Horizon Air and later Big Sky Airlines also served Pocatello before Delta Connection, operated by SkyWest, became the airport's sole scheduled carrier. In 2014, a World War II-era mortar round was uncovered during routine airport maintenance work and safely removed by law enforcement, a direct echo of the field's wartime training role. More recently, in 2024, NASA's retired Douglas DC-8 research aircraft was flown to Pocatello and donated to the airport for educational use by Idaho State University, and the airframe remains parked beside the taxiway and general aviation ramp.
Pocatello Regional Airport continues to host Delta Connection service to Salt Lake City, operated by SkyWest, alongside a substantial general aviation presence that accounts for the majority of the field's traffic. Facilities include a separate general aviation terminal, maintenance and repair operations, and support for private business jet and turboprop charter flights. The Pocatello office of the National Weather Service is also based on the airport grounds, and the field is home to the Kizuna Garden, marking Pocatello's sister-city relationship with Iwamizawa, Japan.