Pierre's first airline flights were around 1935, on Watertown Airways; this was at the old airport north of town at. Inland Airlines and successor Western Airlines served the present airport from about 1938 until 1984; in the 1950s Pierre was one of six stops on a Minneapolis-Los Angeles Convair 240 flight. North Central Airlines Douglas DC-3s arrived in 1959, flying Minneapolis/Saint Paul - Watertown, SD - Aberdeen, SD - Pierre - Rapid City - Spearfish, SD. Convair 340s, Convair 440s and Convair 580s followed. The first jets were North Central McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s in 1968. During the 1970s Western Boeing 737-200s flew nonstop to Rapid City and Sioux Falls with direct, no change of plane service to Denver, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles while North Central DC-9s flew nonstop to Aberdeen and Rapid City with direct service to Minneapolis/St. Paul while North Central still flew Convair 580 turboprops to Pierre as well. In 1979 North Central merged with Southern Airways to form Republic Airlines which had four departures a day at Pierre flown with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-50s and Convair 580s. Republic pulled out of Pierre in 1981, and mainline air service ended when Western left in 1984. In 1981 Northern Airlines turboprops flew to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and other cities. In 1984 Mesaba Airlines turboprops flew Minneapolis/Saint Paul - Sioux Falls - Pierre - Rapid City. In fall 1994 three commuter airlines served the airport: Great Lakes Airlines, Mesaba Airlines and AirVantage Airlines, an independent carrier. Great Lakes Beechcraft 1900s flew nonstop to Denver and direct to Minneapolis/Saint Paul, and Mesaba Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner flew nonstop to Minneapolis/Saint Paul, and AirVantage Metroliners flew nonstop to Bismarck, ND, Rapid City and Sioux Falls. In summer 1999 Great Lakes Airlines Beech 1900s flew to Denver and other cities. Great Lakes lost its designation as a United Express carrier but continues to serve Pierre. Until June 30, 2006 Great Lakes Airlines flights to Denver were subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. The U.S. Department of Transportation selected Big Sky Airlines to provide service beginning July 1, 2006, but that order was suspended when Great Lakes decided to continue service without the EAS subsidy. In 2007 Mesaba Airlines Saab 340s flew direct to Minneapolis/Saint Paul via Watertown, and Great Lakes flew Beechcraft 1900s nonstop to Denver as an independent airline. After the merger of Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines in 2010, Delta Connection Saab 340s flew Minneapolis to Pierre. When Delta quit using the Saab 340 in December 2011, and announced it was leaving Pierre, flights from Minneapolis used Delta's Canadair Regional Jet 200 until Delta pulled out on January 31, 2012. More recently Great Lakes Airlines 19-seat Beechcraft 1900Ds to Minneapolis/St. Paul and Denver have been the only airline flights at Pierre. Great Lakes Airlines flew via interline agreements with Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines and United Airlines.
Facilities
Pierre Regional Airport covers 1,834 acres at an elevation of 1,744 feet. It has two asphalt runways: 7/25 is 6,881 by 150 feet and 13/31 is 6,900 by 100 feet. In 2010 the airport had 32,140 aircraft operations, average 88 per day: 78% general aviation, 11% airline, 11% air taxi and <1% military. 98 aircraft were then based at the airport: 71% single-engine, 28% multi-engine and 1% helicopter.
New terminal building
A new terminal had been needed for many years, as the old terminal building was plagued by a number of problems, primarily space constraints. Construction on the new terminal began in late Spring, 2011 and completed in September, 2012. Denver-based Coover-Clark & Associates, Inc. designed the building and Kadrmas Lee & Jackson's Rapid City office handled the construction administration. Initially, a jet bridge was to be installed at the terminal, but airport officials decided to wait until a scheduled commercial airline could use the jet bridge, as Great Lakes Airlines aircraft serving the airport at the time were not jet bridge capable. Officials also waited because Pierre had been without scheduled passenger jet service operated with mainline aircraft for over 30 years. The new terminal building was designed with the space set aside for a loading bridge, so it required very little effort to install one when the time came. With the introduction of jet service by Aerodynamics, Inc. in 2016, the city began considering a jet bridge for the airport. In August 2017, the Pierre city commission awarded the job of making and installing a new jet-boarding bridge to Sharpe of Pierre for its bid of $716,500. The new jet bridge was installed at the airport on April 23, 2018. A federal grant covered nearly all the costs, with the state kicking in 5% and the city 5%, or about $45,000.
Airline and destinations
Air service to Pierre resumed on April 3, 2019, with daily flights to Denver and continuation service to Watertown. Service is provided by SkyWest Airlines, operating via the United Express brand on behalf of United Airlines using a 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet 200. This service is subsidized with annual funding of $3.64 million from the Essential Air Service program, currently scheduled to end April 30, 2021.
