Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Pierre Regional Airport sits three miles east of Pierre, South Dakota, at the site of the wartime Pierre Army Airfield. It offers two long, lit hard-surfaced runways with an ILS on one approach, making it a straightforward and well-equipped stop for visiting pilots on the Missouri River plains.
Pierre Regional Airport (KPIR) is a city-owned public airport serving Pierre, South Dakota, and the surrounding Hughes County area. It is a certified FAA primary commercial service airport that also supports a substantial general aviation community, with light aircraft accounting for the majority of movements. For the visiting simulator pilot it is a good example of a mid-sized American regional field: long paved runways, an ILS approach, and a mix of airline, air taxi and private traffic.
The airport lies three miles east of the city of Pierre, in Hughes County, South Dakota, in the upper Missouri River valley. Enroute traffic in the area is worked by Minneapolis Center on 125.1 MHz.
Pierre Regional has two physical runways, both hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 13/31 is 6,879 feet long, with an ILS serving the approach to runway 31. Runway 07/25 is 6,875 feet long. The generous length of both runways reflects the field's history of supporting military and airline operations.
The airport broadcasts weather via ASOS on 119.025 MHz. The common traffic advisory frequency is 122.7 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Huron Radio provides flight service on 122.2 MHz, and Minneapolis Center covers the surrounding airspace on 125.1 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 31.
The airfield was built in 1942 as Pierre Army Airfield, and during the Second World War it served the United States Army Air Forces' Air Technical Service Command as a maintenance and supply depot. It was also used as an auxiliary field for Sioux Falls Army Air Field, supporting Second Air Force training in B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, and it trained P-40 and P-47 fighter pilots. Airline service to Pierre dates back to around 1935 with Watertown Airways operating from an earlier airport north of town; Inland Airlines and its successor Western Airlines began serving the present airport around 1938 and continued until 1984. North Central Airlines introduced Douglas DC-3, Convair and later DC-9 jet services from 1959, and through mergers and successor carriers including Republic Airlines, Northwest Airlink, Mesaba Airlines, Great Lakes Airlines and Delta Connection, Pierre saw decades of changing commuter and mainline air service into the 2010s.
Pierre Regional Airport remains owned and operated by the City of Pierre. The current terminal building, a 21,000 square foot facility, opened in September 2012, replacing an older terminal that had been demolished the following year. A jet boarding bridge was installed in April 2018 following the introduction of jet service by Aerodynamics, Inc. in 2016. In the year ending September 2019 the airport handled about 31,960 aircraft operations, roughly 70 percent general aviation, 23 percent air taxi, 5 percent airline and 2 percent military, with 63 aircraft then based on the field, comprising single and multi-engine aeroplanes, one jet and one helicopter.