Lima Allen County Airport

Lima Allen County Airport is a publicly owned, public use airport located six miles southeast of Lima in Allen County, Ohio. It is owned by the Allen County Regional Airport Authority.

History
The airport is near the corner of Hanthorn Road and SR 117 east of Lima. It moved to this site in 1962; until then, the airport was a few miles northwest of Lima near the village of Elida.

Airline flights (Lake Central DC-3s) started at the old airport in 1953-54; successors Allegheny Airlines and Allegheny Commuter continued at the new airport until the early 1970s.

Northern Airlines provided airline service to Lima in the late 1960s. A total of six weekday departures (fewer on weekends) served nonstop service to Dayton, Findlay, & St. Marys OH.

In 1983 and 1984, Trans Midwest Airlines flew an average of 7 daily flights from Lima using Piper Navajo equipment. Nonstop flights went to Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo with direct service to Yeager Airport in Charleston, WV; Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport in Parkersburg, WV; and the Tri-State Airport in Huntington, WV.

The studios of local television station WLMA are in a hangar at the old airport site.

Facilities
The airport covers 696 acre at an elevation of 975 feet (297 m). Originally, the airport had two runways: 10/28 measures 6,000 by 150 feet (1,829 x 46 m) and is made of asphalt; 14/32, which is now closed, was 3,994 by 150 feet (1,217 x 46 m) and was made of asphalt and grass. Runway 14/32 was closed in the winter months. The grass runway was removed in 2013. Lack of use, the necessary maintenance, and scarce wind alignment were all determining factors involved with its de-commissioning.

The airport has a fixed-base operator that sells fuel and offers services such as general maintenance, catering, hangars, courtesy transportation, conference rooms, pilot supplies, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, a 24-hour terminal, and more.

In 2022, the airport completed a number of projects to improve its facilities. It used covid-19 funding from the federal government to upgrade its airport lighting system, including the installation of new runway edge lights, taxiway edge lights, runway end identifier lights, and PAPI lights for runway 10; the airport also installed new airport signage and replaced an electrical vault that runs electricity through the airport. The airport also seal coated the runway and taxiway and rehabilitated the apron pavement surface.

Aircraft
In the year ending August 11, 2022, the airport had 32,500 aircraft operations, average 89 per day: 80% general aviation, 18% air taxi, and 2% military. 37 aircraft were then based at this airport: 30 single-engine and 6 multi-engine airplanes as well as 1 jet.