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Griffiss International Airport lies just east of downtown Rome, New York, on the site of the former Griffiss Air Force Base, and today is best known among sim pilots for its single enormous 11,800-foot concrete runway, a legacy of its Cold War bomber and air-defense past. Owned and operated by Oneida County, the field retains an active control tower, Class D airspace and an ILS approach, and hosts a mix of general aviation, air-taxi and military traffic alongside airline maintenance operations.
Griffiss International Airport is a public, county-owned airport in Rome, New York, built on the former Griffiss Air Force Base. Its most striking feature for any visiting pilot is the sheer scale of the field: a single runway stretching nearly 11,800 feet, a relic of its days as a Strategic Air Command bomber base, now shared by general aviation, military, air-taxi traffic and airline maintenance and storage operations for carriers such as Republic Airways and Envoy Air. The airport is also a designated FAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems test site, adding an unusual mix of drone research activity to the circuit.
The airport sits about one mile east of the central business district of Rome, in Oneida County, New York, on the grounds of the former Griffiss Air Force Base. It is served by an active air traffic control tower and Class D controlled airspace, with approach and departure services provided on 120.925 MHz.
Griffiss has one physical runway, 15/33, a hard-surfaced strip 11,800 feet long and lit for night operations. Runway 33 is equipped with an ILS for precision approaches; runway 15 is the reciprocal end.
Approach and departure control operates on 120.925 MHz. The common traffic advisory frequency is 125.6 MHz, with UNICOM available on 122.7 MHz. Runway 33 offers an ILS approach, and the field also supports non-precision GPS approaches.
Published circuit direction is left-hand traffic for runway 15 and right-hand traffic for runway 33, with a traffic pattern altitude of 2,004 feet. Pilot-controlled lighting is available on the field's radio frequency, typically activated by keying the microphone five times in quick succession.
The site began life in 1941 when the War Department sought land in central New York for an air depot; ground was broken in August of that year and flight operations started on 18 February 1942. Construction was overseen by Kenneth Nichols of the Syracuse Engineer District, whose leadership later moved on to the Manhattan Engineer District. The base took its final name, Griffiss Air Force Base, in 1948 in honour of Lieutenant Colonel Townsend Griffiss, a Buffalo native and 1922 West Point graduate who in 1942 became the first US airman killed in the European Theatre of the Second World War when his B-24 Liberator was shot down by friendly fire over the English Channel. From 1 February 1942 the Rome Air Depot carried out engine maintenance and repair and trained air depot groups through the war, continuing logistics work into the 1960s before closing in 1967. From the 1950s the base became a major air defense station, home to the Northeast Air Defense Sector and a succession of fighter-interceptor squadrons flying types including the F-80, F-86, F-89, F-94, F-102 and F-101 Voodoo. Electronic and radar research also flourished on the base from 1949 as the Rome Air Development Center. Griffiss Air Force Base closed in 1995, and four years later the airfield's huge runway and open ground hosted the Woodstock '99 music festival. Civil airport operations transferred here in 2006 from the Oneida County Airport at Oriskany, which closed in January 2007, and the field was renamed Griffiss International Airport in 2008.
Griffiss International Airport now operates under FAA Part 139 Class IV certification with an active air traffic control tower and Class D airspace. It functions as a maintenance and storage base for several regional airlines, including Republic Airways and Envoy Air, and hosts wide-body hangar facilities and fixed-base operator services. The airport is a designated New York UAS test site, supporting drone research alongside conventional general aviation, air-taxi and military flying.
