Story ID: 
One Airport Replaces Two in Iowa
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Following the opening of new Sioux County Regional Airport, nearby Orange City Municipal Airport wil be shuttered at the end of January.
Word Count: 225
Following last year’s opening of Iowa’s Sioux County Regional Airport (SXK), the county has submitted paperwork to the FAA indicating it will permanently close nearby dedicated business and general aviation gateway Orange City Municipal Airport (ORC) on January 31. As required under the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS), which listed ORC and its 4,252-foot main runway, the FAA must formally approve the closure of the airport, located five miles from SXK.

According to Sioux County Regional Airport board member and past chairman Harold Schiebout, fueling and FBO services at ORC, which had no taxiway, had already been unavailable there for more than a year. “We discontinued those services last fall as well, but because we were going through the formal closure process with headquarters, the FAA wanted us to keep it open officially even though we were not providing services there,” Schiebout told AIN.

County-run Sioux Center Municipal Airport (SOY), a non-NPIAS airport with a 3,800-foot-long, 50-foot wide runway was closed last year, and in a letter to the FAA, Schiebout noted the assets of ORC and SOY will be transferred to the new airport.

SXK, which replaced the two, has a 5,500 foot-long, 100 foot-wide runway and a full-length taxiway. Ground handling, hangarage, maintenance, and aircraft charter services there are provided by FBO operator AirFlair.