What are the busiest general aviation airports in the United States?
Using FAA data of local general aviation traffic and itinerant general aviation operations for fiscal year 2017, the 10 busiest GA airports are:
- Van Nuys Airport (KVNY), Van Nuys, California: 155,420 local GA operations + 332,117 itinerant GA operations = 487,537.
- Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT), Phoenix, Arizona: 130,886 local operations + 243,075 itinerant = 373,961.
- Centennial Airport (KAPA), Denver, Colorado: 153,744 local operations + 133,098 itinerant = 286,842.
- Ernest A. Love Field (KPRC), Prescott, Arizona: 177,233 local operations + 85,290 itinerant = 262,523.
- Long Beach Airport-Daugherty Field (KLGB), Long Beach, California: 151,912 local operations + 101,734 itinerant = 253,646.
- Portland-Hillsboro Airport (KHIO), Portland, Oregon: 160,261 local GA operations + 83,381 itinerant = 243,642.
- Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (KIWA), Phoenix, Arizona: 166,519 local operations + 66,727 itinerant = 233,246.
- Falcon Field (KFFZ), Mesa, Arizona: 175,051 local + 53,307 itinerant = 228,358.
- Grand Forks International Airport (KGFK), Grand Forks, N.D.: 212,325 local + 12,634 itinerant = 224,959.
- Gillespie Field (KSEE), San Diego/El Cajon, California: 140,189 local + 68,061 itinerant = 208,250.
What’s about Teterboro, NJ KTEB? I thought it was busiest GA. Hmm How about White Plains,NY KHPN?
Thanks,
SG
What indeed DID happen to Teterboro? It dropped from No. 1 to out of the Top 10? Makes no sense to me.
Ha and NONE are in Florida. Arizona definitely does not get the GA media love it deserves.
John C Tune out of Nashville.
Probably busier than all these if you consider that it only has 1 runway.
Nope. KFNL in Colorado runs nearly 500 ops per day on a single runway. Now that we have a tower, we get an official count. What’s scary is that our traffic is DOWN since the tower went live.
Vero Beach???
So where does KSFB stand? I was told by a FAA supervisor that it was one of the top 5 airports in terms of GA traffic?
Where does KAPF stand in terms of total flight ops ?
Good job UND Aviation! GFK and IWA!!
Why does a February 2020 article used FY17 data?
All that sunshine = flight training in Arizona and massive ops.
CA has 64,000 active pilots vs AZ with 23,000.
20,000 student pilots vs 6,000.
It must be all those CA pilots flying to AZ…? Or on their way to somewhere else.!
https://registry.faa.gov/activeairmen/#
VNY to Prescott, Falcon or other AZ airports are perfect flights for a day’s enjoyment.
If you’ve never viewed “16 Right,” it is a must-see film on the history of VNY, and sheds a light on GA airports in general and the threat we face in losing these priceless resources. Some of the most stirring aerial video you will ever see, a wonderful sound track, and a well-told story. Watch it! http://www.onesixright.com/
I have it. Love it.
16R is one of the finest amateur docs ever. Mr. Terwilliger should be commended for his excellent work. I offered to work with him, we started a dialog, then my college schedule time increased in Moorpark, had no time for helping with the movie. Darn.
It’s no surprise to me that Van Nuys is the busiest, but I was surprised to see that Arizona has more GA operations than California, and that Texas isn’t there at all.
I’ve flown into Van Nuys and it can be really crazy busy..!
Only place I’ve ever landed that they cleared 8 ahead of me and myself to land all at the same time.