Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Tupelo Regional Airport (KTUP) serves Tupelo, Mississippi, with a single long instrument runway, scheduled Essential Air Service flights, and a mix of military and general aviation activity. It is a useful VFR and IFR destination in northeast Mississippi, notable for its resident Mississippi National Guard helicopter unit and its role as an aircraft recycling site.
Tupelo Regional Airport is a public-use airport owned by the Tupelo Airport Authority, situated a few miles west of the city of Tupelo in northeast Mississippi. It combines scheduled passenger service, subsidised under the federal Essential Air Service programme, with general aviation, military helicopter operations, and a substantial aircraft storage and recycling business, making it a varied and historically interesting field for a visiting simulator pilot.
The airport lies about 3.7 miles (6 km) west of the central business district of Tupelo, in Lee County, Mississippi. It is a towered field, with Memphis Center providing overlying centre services on 128.5 MHz.
Tupelo Regional has one physical runway, 18/36, 7,120 feet long with a hard (asphalt) surface and runway lighting. An ILS is available for runway 36.
The tower and common traffic frequency is 118.775 MHz, with ground control on 121.825 MHz. Airport weather is broadcast on ASOS at 133.525 MHz. Memphis Center can be reached on 128.5 MHz, and Army National Guard operations use 33.5 MHz, with a radio frequency of 122.5 MHz also listed for the field. Runway 36 is equipped with an ILS.
Tupelo Regional operates as a towered airport; pilots should expect to work the tower/CTAF frequency of 118.775 MHz for arrival, departure and circuit sequencing, with ground movements handled separately on 121.825 MHz.
The airport traces its origins to 1934, when it was established through a joint venture by local businessmen. Scheduled airline service began in 1952 with Southern Airways operating Douglas DC-3s on a multi-stop routing linking Atlanta, several Alabama and Mississippi points, Tupelo and Memphis. Southern later re-equipped with Martin 4-0-4 piston airliners through the 1970s before merging with North Central Airlines to form Republic Airlines, which served Tupelo with Swearingen Metroliner turboprops from 1979 and larger Convair 580s by 1981, though service lapsed by 1984. Commuter carriers Scheduled Skyways and Flight Line filled the gap in the mid-1980s, followed by Northwest Airlink and American Eagle code-share turboprop services from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. Following Northwest's 2008 merger with Delta, Delta Connection operated jet service to Memphis and Atlanta before withdrawing; Silver Airways and then SeaPort Airlines each provided short-lived service between 2012 and 2015. The airport was renamed Tupelo Regional Airport in July 1996. Contour Airlines began daily service to Nashville in April 2016, initially with Jetstream 31 turboprops before upgrading to Embraer regional jets, and the airport regained FAA Primary Airport status in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Mississippi National Guard has long based AH-64 Apache and UH-72 Lakota helicopters at a facility on the airfield, and the field is also used by Universal Asset Management for dismantling and recycling large widebody jetliners.
Tupelo Regional Airport today handles scheduled Contour Airlines flights to Nashville and Dallas alongside general aviation traffic. FBO services, including hangar space and badge access, have been operated by Tupelo Aviation Unlimited under the Tupelo Airport Authority since April 2007. The airfield continues to host Mississippi National Guard AH-64 Apache and UH-72 Lakota helicopters, and remains active as an aircraft storage, scrapping and parts-recycling site for large commercial jets.