Eugene Airport

Eugene Airport dates back to 1919 when it was built at the behest of Mahlon Sweet, a Eugene automobile dealer who was a staunch aviation supporter. Built on the southeast corner of West 18th Avenue and Chambers Street, the airstrip (Eugene Air Park) handled aviation for the city. In 1943, the new airport opened, named the Mahlon Sweet Field. As with many other airports around the nation, the airport was taken over by the U.S. Army Air Forces during WWII. In 1951, there were three runways: one at 26 degrees (5,229 feet long), one at 111 degrees (5,205 feet), and the last at 158 degrees (3,999 feet). Collectively, they formed the shape of an asterisk. As for air service, the first airline to serve Eugene was United Airlines in 1944 with Douglas DC-3s. In 1947, West Coast Airlines began to serve Eugene, and in 1968 they merged with Bonanza Airlines and Pacific Airlines to form Air West, which was renamed Hughes Airwest in 1970 and continued to serve Eugene in Douglas DC-9-10s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s. By 1980, the Hughes Airwest fleet was all jet. The frequency of flights was reduced when Hughes Airwest was acquired by Republic Airlines in September 1980, and by 1985 Republic had left the airport. Commuter Air Oregon began to serve the airport in the late 1970s before being acquired by Horizon Air in 1981. Horizon went on to serve the airport for 35 years. In 1985, American Airlines began to serve Eugene, whereas Continental started serving the airport in 1987, and USAir (later U.S. Airways) began service in 1989. Delta Connection served the airport with a route to Salt Lake City from 1995 to 1998 when the route was dropped due to a shortage in their fleet. The service resumed in 2004 (operated by SkyWest Airlines) with $1.2 million offered in incentives by various private and public sources to get the route started. Meanwhile, United Airlines last Boeing 737 flight out of Eugene to San Francisco was on January 6th, 2003 (although service was briefly resumed in 2008). The route was taken over by SkyWest Airlines the very next day. In 2005, the crosswind runway was replaced with Runway 16L/34R, which was 6,000 feet parallel to Runway 16R/34/L. Furthermore, in 2010 a new airport rescue and firefighting facility was built. Allegiant Air began serving Eugene in 2008, whereas Frontier Airlines began a short-lived service in 2013.

The airport is located seven miles northwest of Eugene. 

• The general aviation FBO is Atlantic Aviation, which specializes in working on larger general aviation aircraft such as Gulfstreams and Learjets. 
• Eugene Flight Center is a flight school and charter operation (also offering aerial photography) operating at the north end of the airport. Eugene is also home to the Lane Community College Flight Academy; they offer flight instruction for private, commercial, instrument, multi-engine, and flight instructor certifications. Furthermore, the Lane Aviation Academy is on the southern end of the airport, offering an Aviation Maintenance Technician program. 
• A parking facility is attended 24 hours a day, with 237 short-term parking spots, over 1,000 long-term parking spots, and 582 spaces in the overflow lot.