Aviation View | Volume 1, Issue 2

116 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 SEDONA A I RPORT the Sedona community grew, the airport kept growing along with it… a small hangar, runway lights, and a phone booth were soon set up. By 1968 the runway was extended to 5,130 feet, a little shy of its current 5,183 feet. Through the 1970s, Sedona Airport continued to expand and airport facilities, taxiways and aprons, as well as hangars, were constructed to allow for the 12,000 operations they were seeing yearly. All this in a town of what was then only 5,000 people. In 1982, Sky Ranch Lodge and Motel opened for business on top of the mesa with 35 units. It now has 94 attractive accommodations and is a beautiful resort within walking distance of Sedona Airport. At present on the Mesa, there are 11 different companies providing flights, tours, charters, flight instruction, and aviation services in addition to lodging. Sedona Airport, itself, is operated by the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority on behalf of Yavapai County. As a General Aviation airport, most of the clients are individual owners, with some corporate aircraft, and also several tour operators flying out of Sedona. The nearest regional commercial airport is located in Flagstaff, 28 miles north through scenic Oak Creek canyon. “Our current FBO is Red Rock Aviation,” says Rose, “and they provide top quality aviation services for everything from the smallest of aircraft right up through the largest of corporate and personal jets. They also have a small terminal building with all the amenities. Add Sky Ranch Lodge and the award-winning Mesa Grill restaurant with Chef Mercer and this is the perfect place to get away from it all.” The airport also has a number of aviation businesses as tenants. Rose reports, “If you would like to see the area from a balloon, you Edward Rose, Airport General Manager