# Watertown Regional Airport

Watertown Regional Airport (IATA: ATY, ICAO: KATY, FAA LID: ATY), formerly Watertown Municipal Airport, is two miles northwest of Watertown in Codington County, South Dakota, United States.
The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015–2019 categorized it as a non-primary commercial service facility. Federal Aviation Administration data says it had 4,348 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2013, a decrease of 30.5% from 6,254 enplanements in 2012.

## History

During World War II, the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Forces as a Second Air Force cold weather bomber training base as an auxiliary to Sioux Falls Army Air Field, and by Air Proving Ground Command.
B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator units underwent advanced training before going overseas. One unit that trained here was the 702d Bombardment Squadron of the 445th Bombardment Group.

## Facilities

The airport covers 919 acres (372 ha) at an elevation of 1,749 feet (533 m). It has two runways: 12/30 is 6,898 by 100 feet (2,103 x 30 m) concrete and 17/35 is 6,893 by 100 feet (2,101 x 30 m) concrete.
In the year ending December 31, 2022 the airport had 12,276 aircraft operations, average 34 per day: 89% general aviation, 6% airline, and 5% air taxi. 52 aircraft were then based at the airport; 43 single-engine, 4 multi-engine, 3 jet, and 2 glider.
From 2012 to 2018, runways 17/35 and 12/30 were overhauled using concrete, replacing worn out asphalt on both runways.
The airport opened its new, state-of-the-art passenger terminal August 10, 2022. The new terminal has two levels, two gates and a movable jet bridge.
The airport has free parking.

## Notable visitors

President Barack Obama landed at the airport twice, first in 2008 during his presidential campaign, and on May 8, 2015, to address the graduating class of 2015 from Lake Area Technical Institute. Both times, President Obama arrived on a Boeing 757, during his campaign, on a chartered North American Airlines 757, and as president, using a smaller version of Air Force One (the Boeing C-32).

## Airlines and destinations

Air service to Watertown is provided by Denver Air Connection using 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145ERs, with daily flights to Chicago and Denver.
| Airlines | Destinations |
| Denver Air Connection | Chicago–O'Hare, Denver |

### Historical airline service

Airline flights at Watertown started about 1935, with a local company, Watertown Airways, operating scheduled service between Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport and Watertown. This route continued through South Dakota with additional stops in Huron, Pierre, Phillip, Rapid City, and Spearfish. By 1938, Mid-Continent Airlines was operating a route from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Omaha, Nebraska, with Watertown as one of the intermediate stops. Upon the 1952 acquisition of Mid-Continent by Braniff International, Braniff took over the operation of this route until 1959. North Central arrived in 1957 and successor Republic left in 1985. The first jet flights were North Central DC-9s in 1968.
Mesaba Airlines, operating as Northwest Airlink, and later, Delta Connection, served Watertown for years, with daily Saab 340s to Minneapolis/St. Paul. When Delta quit using the Saab 340 in December 2011, and announced the end of air service to Watertown, flights from Minneapolis temporarily used Delta's Canadair Regional Jet 200, until Great Lakes Airlines took over 4 months later.
Great Lakes Airlines offered daily non-stop 19-seat (later 9-seat) Beechcraft 1900Ds to Minneapolis/St. Paul, until city officials voted to end the service, citing unreliability of the airline. Great Lakes ended service to the airport on September 30, 2015.
On August 15, 2016, Aerodynamics, Inc. (later California Pacific Airlines) began flying to Watertown with daily service to Denver, via Pierre, using Embraer 145 jet aircraft. However, the airline suspended all operations nationwide and ended flights to Pierre and Watertown on January 17, 2019.
Air service to Watertown resumed on April 3, 2019, with SkyWest Airlines operating as United Express, using 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet 200s. $3.24 million (or $44.44 per seat) of annual funding from the Essential Air Service program for flights to Denver ended on June 30, 2021. Denver Air Connection was selected for a new contract starting July 1, 2021; at that time, SkyWest also announced their intentions to remain in the Pierre and Watertown markets. SkyWest ended service to Watertown in January 2022.
Sun Country Airlines flew several seasonal charter Boeing 737-800s to Laughlin/Bullhead City International Airport in Arizona, known as "casino or gamblers' flights," in coordination with travel agencies in Watertown. These trips ended in 2015.

## Statistics

Top domestic destinations from ATY (November 2023 - October 2024) :
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | Airline |
| 1 | Denver, CO | 8,190 | Denver Air Connection |
| 2 | Chicago–O'Hare, IL | 5,660 | Denver Air Connection |
Passenger boardings (enplanements) by year, as per the FAA :
| Year | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Enplanements | 9,161 | 6,212 | 5,158 | 4,975 | 5,824 | 7,814 | 8,984 | 6,254 | 4,348 |
| Change | +4.79% | -32.19% | -16.97% | -3.55% | +17.07% | +34.17% | +14.97% | -30.39% | -30.48% |