The center provides refueling and other services for aircraft but also manages charter jets businesses, Kansas State University and the military operation. Now the number is closer to 60,000, Romo said, with a 70 percent to 75 percent occupancy rate each flight.Įven with that boost to commercial flights, the bulk of the airport’s business remains charter flights through the fixed-base operation center, “the lifeblood of the airport,” Romo said. Back then, about 15,000 people came through annually. The airport has grown since 2009, when American Airlines started operating regional flights. It isn’t just K-State’s purple airport or Fort Riley’s camouflage airport. “The airport is the front door of the community,” Romo said. The curved roof and stonework are meant to mimic the Flint Hills, and a large, bright greeting area gives friends and family plenty a comfortable area to welcome visitors. The new facility includes ticket counters, baggage systems, enclosed boarding bridges and rental car counters - all the amenities travelers expect from a larger airport but easier and with less hassle, Romo said. In December, work wrapped on a roughly $16 million, 42,000-square-feet expansion.

Jesse Romo, Manhattan Regional Airport director, talks about the growth the airport has seen in recent years. “It’s much easier to drive 10 or 20 minutes that two hours to Wichita or Kansas City. “From those airports you can get anywhere,” Romo said. With flights from American Airlines, as American Eagle, travelers in the Flint Hills can connect to two major hubs on five flights a day: two to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and three to Chicago O’Hare. The Millers first used the airport in 2015 and discovered what airport director Jesse Romo has touted - the growing Manhattan Regional Airport connects the Little Apple to the world. “This is just some much easier,” she said. The pair were bound for Salt Lake City to visit family and a flight out of the small airport through Chicago made more sense than a two-hour drive to Kansas City, Miller said. MANHATTAN - Angie Miller and her daughter Mackenzie patiently waited at Manhattan Regional Airport for a flight to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on a recent afternoon.

Fort riley shuttle kansas city airport