The Alliance Municipal Airport was built during World War II by the United States Army Air Force as a training airfield. Today, most people associate the Alliance Municipal Airport with our commercial flights to and from Denver using Denver Air Connection, however the Airport also has five (5) hangars that house approximately fifty-seven (57) based aircraft. Denver Air Connection provides twelve (12) flights per week to and from Denver, CO. All together over 13,000 operations are conducted annually, made up of commercial flights, charter flights, military and all general aviation flights.
Heartland Aviation is the Airport’s Fixed Based Operator handling all aviation needs for pilots and managing the five hangars for locally owned aircraft. Other aviation related businesses at the airport are KeyLime Air which brings in freight every day, aerial sprayers Western Cooperative Co. and Flying Rhino, and the S.E.A.T. Base who assists with wildfires.
The Airport is managed by Airport Director, Lynn Placek with the help of Maintenance Foreman, Wayne Davis and Maintenance II Worker, Tyler Gilmore, who keep the airport safe and secure for all flight operations while working diligently to meet the operation and safety standards set by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to keep the airport certified. Staff are responsible for all maintenance of the airport in regards to the airfield along with the warehouse buildings and grazing tracts of land. Work includes: snow removal, mowing, painting, and lighting systems. Other duties include emergency response, wildlife control, building and land maintenance. The total area of land that the airport occupies today is approximately 4,300 acres.
Aside from keeping the Airport safe and certified, staff have been focused on renewing the Airline contract with Denver Air Connection for another two years and are hoping to bring in a car rental service for passengers and the community. The theme of the past few years has been combatting extreme weather conditions; snow last winter to repairing hail damages from the 2020 and 2021 storms. Director Placek has been focused on applying and receiving grants from the FAA that has allowed them to rehabilitate all of the major surfaces of the airfield while remaining in use. One of those projects recently won the “Project of the Year” Award from the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics.