# Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport

Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport (IATA: RKS, ICAO: KRKS, FAA LID: RKS) is eight miles east of Rock Springs, in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. It is operated by the Rock Springs-Sweetwater County Joint Powers Airport Board, with a total of five members, two appointed by the City of Rock Springs and three appointed by Sweetwater County. The airport has twice-daily United Express flights to Denver International Airport.
Sweetwater Aviation is the fixed-base operator, providing all general aviation services on the field.
The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019-2023 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).

## Facilities

The airport covers 1,242 acres (503 ha) at an elevation of 6,765 feet (2,062 m). It has two asphalt runways: 9/27 is 10,000 by 150 feet (3,048 x 46 m) and 3/21 is 5,228 by 75 feet (1,593 x 23 m). RWY 27 has an ILS and RNAV GPS approach while RWY 9 has a RNAV GPS approach.
The airport's commercial terminal opened in 1978; plans are underway to expand and renovate it.
RKS has over 7 acres of aircraft apron space and offers Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting services up to Index C.
It has over 130,000 ft$^2$ of hangar space including community hangar space large enough to support multiple large cabin corporate aircraft. All facilities are owned by the City of Rock Springs and operated by the Airport Board.
In December 2017, it became the first airport in Wyoming to use a renewable energy power source for part of its electrical demand. The 25 KW solar farm installed by Creative Energies offsets a portion of the electrical demand for the General Aviation Complex operated by Sweetwater Aviation.

## Operations & passenger statistics

In 2018 the airport had 16,674 aircraft operations, average 46 per day: 72.2% general aviation, 27.3% air taxi, and <1% military. 41 aircraft were then based at this airport: 85% single-engine, 12% multi-engine, and 2% helicopter, plus 3 ultralight aircraft.

## Airline and destination

| Airlines | Destinations |
| United Express | Denver |
The airport has one scheduled airline to Denver International Airport, and sees frequent Wendover Fun Casino charter flights.

## Statistics

Busiest domestic routes from RKS (March 2021 - February 2022) :
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | Carrier |
| 1 | Denver, Colorado | 18,000 | United Express |

## Climate

Climate data for Rock Springs Airport, Wyoming, 1991–2020 normals, 1948-2020 records: 6741ft (2055m) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 55 (13) | 60 (16) | 72 (22) | 79 (26) | 90 (32) | 96 (36) | 98 (37) | 96 (36) | 91 (33) | 83 (28) | 66 (19) | 57 (14) | 98 (37) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 43.6 (6.4) | 47.1 (8.4) | 61.1 (16.2) | 71.2 (21.8) | 79.8 (26.6) | 87.9 (31.1) | 92.5 (33.6) | 90.5 (32.5) | 84.4 (29.1) | 73.9 (23.3) | 58.6 (14.8) | 45.9 (7.7) | 93.1 (33.9) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 29.5 (−1.4) | 32.9 (0.5) | 43.9 (6.6) | 52.8 (11.6) | 63.2 (17.3) | 75.0 (23.9) | 84.1 (28.9) | 81.5 (27.5) | 70.7 (21.5) | 56.0 (13.3) | 40.5 (4.7) | 29.5 (−1.4) | 55.0 (12.7) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 21.5 (−5.8) | 24.3 (−4.3) | 34.0 (1.1) | 41.2 (5.1) | 50.8 (10.4) | 61.0 (16.1) | 69.4 (20.8) | 67.3 (19.6) | 57.3 (14.1) | 44.5 (6.9) | 31.2 (−0.4) | 21.4 (−5.9) | 43.7 (6.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 13.6 (−10.2) | 15.7 (−9.1) | 24.1 (−4.4) | 29.7 (−1.3) | 38.4 (3.6) | 47.0 (8.3) | 54.8 (12.7) | 53.1 (11.7) | 43.9 (6.6) | 32.9 (0.5) | 21.8 (−5.7) | 13.4 (−10.3) | 32.4 (0.2) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −7.9 (−22.2) | −5.4 (−20.8) | 7.3 (−13.7) | 16.0 (−8.9) | 25.5 (−3.6) | 34.3 (1.3) | 45.5 (7.5) | 42.8 (6.0) | 29.6 (−1.3) | 15.9 (−8.9) | 2.7 (−16.3) | −6.6 (−21.4) | −14.3 (−25.7) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −37 (−38) | −29 (−34) | −12 (−24) | 2 (−17) | 14 (−10) | 26 (−3) | 35 (2) | 33 (1) | 5 (−15) | −10 (−23) | −13 (−25) | −29 (−34) | −37 (−38) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.38 (9.7) | 0.37 (9.4) | 0.58 (15) | 0.91 (23) | 1.27 (32) | 0.70 (18) | 0.47 (12) | 0.56 (14) | 0.79 (20) | 0.81 (21) | 0.40 (10) | 0.31 (7.9) | 7.55 (192) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 8.20 (20.8) | 7.90 (20.1) | 6.40 (16.3) | 8.80 (22.4) | 2.70 (6.9) | 0.40 (1.0) | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.00 (0.00) | 1.20 (3.0) | 6.60 (16.8) | 6.00 (15.2) | 5.80 (14.7) | 54 (137.2) |
| Source 1: NOAA ||||||||||||||
| Source 2: XMACIS2 (records & monthly max/mins) ||||||||||||||