North Texas Regional Airport

North Texas Regional Airport / Perrin Field is a county-owned airport in Grayson County, Texas between Sherman and Denison. Formerly Grayson County Airport, the airport was renamed in November 2007. Several buildings are occupied by businesses, Grayson County government agencies, and Grayson County College.

Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, but this airport is GYI to the FAA and PNX to the IATA (which assigned GYI to Gisenyi Airport in Gisenyi, Rwanda).

The northern extension of State Highway 289 passes the airport on the west side.

History


The airport is on the site of Perrin Air Force Base, which was built in 1941 and closed in 1971. Since the closure, a group of local citizens have held the memory of Perrin together, hosting nine Perrin Field reunions since the early 1980s. The Perrin AFB Research Foundation was established in 1998. Today, in addition to serving as a general aviation airport, several businesses, as well as a juvenile detention center/boot-camp and adult probation center are built upon former barracks and nearby areas. The Perrin Air Force Base Historical Museum is located at the airport and Grayson County College uses several buildings. The college also operates the former base golf course.

After seeing the fighters take off from here as a young man, aviation expert Chesley Sullenberger (best known as the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549) became interested in flying.

In late 2018, the proposed Christian airline Judah 1 moved to North Texas Regional, but was subsequently unsuccessful in its efforts to obtain an air operator's certificate and begin scheduled flights. In early 2020, Judah 1 moved to Shreveport Regional Airport, citing a lack of hangar space and facilities suitable for Transportation Security Administration use at North Texas Regional; the manager of North Texas Regional stated that the move would have little impact, as Judah 1 had never started airline operations.

On 1 January 2024, the Cavanaugh Flight Museum lost its lease at Addison Airport, closed indefinitely, and announced that its aircraft would be moved to North Texas Regional, but the museum would not state whether the collection would return to public display.

Facilities
The airport covers 1,410 acre at an elevation of 749 feet (228 m). It has three runways: 17L/35R, which measures 9,000 by 150 feet (2,743 x 46 m) and is made from asphalt/concrete; 17R/35L, which measures 4,008 by 100 feet (1,222 x 30 m) and is also made from asphalt/concrete, and 13/31, which measures 2,277 by 60 feet (694 x 18 m) and is made from asphalt.

The airport has a Category I instrument landing system (ILS) to Runway 17L. The former USAF control tower resumed operations in mid-2008.

In the year ending April 30, 2007, the airport had 53,300 aircraft operations, an average of 146 per day: 98% general aviation, 2% military and <1% air taxi. 169 aircraft were then based at the airport: 73% single-engine, 11% multi-engine, 11% jet, 4% helicopter and 1% ultralight.