Departure
95%
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
State College Regional Airport (KUNV), formerly University Park Airport, lies in Benner Township just north of State College in central Pennsylvania. Owned by Pennsylvania State University with the terminal run by the Centre County Airport Authority, it combines a busy regional airline operation with general aviation activity centred on a single long, ILS-equipped runway.
State College Regional Airport serves State College and the surrounding Centre County area of central Pennsylvania. It is owned by Pennsylvania State University, with the passenger terminal and associated parking owned and operated by the Centre County Airport Authority. For a simulator pilot the field is notable for pairing a single long, hard-surfaced runway equipped with an ILS with a genuine mix of regional jet airline traffic and general aviation movements, all handled from a controlled airport traffic control tower.
The airport sits in Benner Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, a short distance north of the town of State College and the Penn State University campus. It is served by an Airport Traffic Control Tower, operated under the Federal Contract Tower Program, which became operational on 1 September 2011, indicating that the field sits within controlled airspace during tower hours. Overlying and surrounding airspace is worked by New York Center, and Altoona Radio provides flight service in the area.
The airport has one physical runway, 06/24, orientated northeast-southwest. Runway 06 is 6,669 feet long and runway 24 is 6,668 feet long; both are hard-surfaced and lit, and runway 24 is equipped with an instrument landing system.
Pilots can expect the following frequencies at State College Regional: AWOS on 127.65 MHz; clearance delivery (CLD) on 118.55 MHz; New York Center on 134.8 MHz; Altoona Radio on 122.5 MHz; and UNICOM/CTAF on 122.8 MHz. Runway 24 carries an ILS, giving an instrument approach for arrivals from the northeast.
Runway 24, at the end nearest Rock Road, is used as the primary landing and departing runway and carries a magnetic heading of 243 degrees; it is also the ILS-served direction. The airport has an operating control tower under the Federal Contract Tower Program, so arriving and departing traffic should expect to be worked by air traffic control rather than operating on a purely self-announced basis.
A small airport was first developed here in the 1950s on land leased from Pennsylvania State University, with the Centre County Airport Authority created to oversee its development; the airport is recorded as having opened in 1958. Early charts show a short runway 6 of around 2,350 feet in 1959, extended to about 3,000 feet by 1965, with a second runway, 16, of 2,350 feet added by 1967; the intersection of these two original strips can still be traced on the ground. The present runway was built parallel to the old runway 6 in 1973-1974, initially around 5,000 feet long, and was later lengthened. Commercial service began in 1978 under Allegheny Commuter, following earlier Harrisburg Commuter flights from 1965. A permanent passenger terminal was built in 1985 and replaced by a new terminal in 1993, after which cargo operations moved into the older building. A new general aviation hangar was added in 2001. Construction of the airport's control tower began in January 2010 and the facility went operational in September 2011, operated by Midwest Air Traffic Control under the Federal Contract Tower Program. In November 2023 the Centre County Airport Authority renamed the field from University Park Airport to State College Regional Airport to better reflect its role as the region's airport.
The airport continues to combine scheduled airline service with general aviation activity. American Eagle and United Express regional jet services connect State College to hubs including Philadelphia, Washington Dulles and Chicago O'Hare, typically using Embraer ERJ-145 and E175, and Bombardier CRJ-200/550/900 aircraft. General aviation is supported by a Penn State University fixed-base operator offering fuel, flight planning services, aircraft repair and hangar rental. The field remains owned by Pennsylvania State University, with the terminal and parking areas operated by the Centre County Airport Authority; a transfer of the airport's operating assets to the Authority has been approved by the Penn State Board of Trustees.