Smyrna Airport (Tennessee)


Smyrna Airport is a public general aviation and military use airport located two nautical miles north of the central business district of Smyrna, a town in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. It is owned by Smyrna / Rutherford County Airport Authority. Smyrna Airport is the third largest airport in Tennessee and is the state's busiest general aviation airport. Prior to March 1971, the facility was an active military installation known as Sewart Air Force Base.
This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a reliever airport for Nashville International Airport, which is located twelve nautical miles to the north.

Military use

Smyrna Airport currently operates as a joint use facility with a Tennessee Army National Guard helicopter unit, Army Aviation Support Facility #1, which operates 60 helicopters with 300 full-time Army National Guard personnel.
The airport previously served as an outlying Air National Guard training facility for C-130 Hercules aircraft of the 118th Airlift Wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard at Berry Field Air National Guard Base at Nashville International Airport until the wing's termination of C-130 operations in 2012. The airport also continues to support training operations by C-17 Globemaster III aircraft of the Tennessee Air National Guard's 164th Airlift Wing at Memphis Air National Guard Base at the Memphis International Airport.
The Tennessee Army National Guard also leases part of the airport to maintain the Grubbs/Kyle Training Center. This facility supports 24 different units and 1,270 assigned Army National Guard personnel, 162 of which are full-time, as well as numerous military aircraft.

Facilities and aircraft

Smyrna Airport covers an area of 1,700 acres at an elevation of 543 feet above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways 14/32 is 8,048 by 150 feet and 1/19 is 5,546 by 100 feet. It also has one helipad designated H1 with a concrete surface measuring 40 by 40 feet.
For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2017, the airport had 86,964 aircraft operations, an average of 238 per day:
89% general aviation, 5% military, 5% air taxi, and <1% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 160 aircraft based at this airport: 87 single-engine, 27 multi-engine, 12 jet, 2 helicopter, 2 glider, and 30 military.
The airport has an operational control tower from 7am to 10pm on weekdays and 7am to 7pm on weekends, a precision instrument landing system approach to Runway 32, and DoD Into-Plane Contract jet fuel for military and other US Government aircraft provided by the on-site civilian fixed-base operator, Contour Flight Management.

Airlines and Destinations