Darke County Airport | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Owner | Darke County Commissioners | ||||||||||
Serves | Versailles, Ohio | ||||||||||
Time zone | UTC−05:00 (-5) | ||||||||||
• Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (-4) | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 1,007 ft / 307 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 40°12′16″N 084°31′55″W / 40.20444°N 84.53194°W | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Statistics (2021) | |||||||||||
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Darke County Airport (ICAO: KVES, FAA LID: VES) is a county-owned, public-use airport in Darke County, Ohio, United States.[1] It is located two nautical miles (4 km) southwest of the central business district of Versailles.[1] It is along State Route 121 just south of Versailles. Midmark operates a private jet from this airport. The airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation facility.[2]
Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, this airport is assigned VES by the FAA,[1] but has no designation from the IATA.[3][4]
In 2007, light lenses were stolen from the airport. Officials said the theft could endanger pilots.[5]
The airport holds events such as fly-ins that feature old warbird aircraft, medical helicopters, and highway patrol aircraft.[6][7]
CareFlight Air & Mobile has a helicopter based at the airport, which serves as the company's northwest base. The helicopter was activated to respond to calls in early 2020.[8]
Darke County Airport covers an area of 42 acres (17 ha) at an elevation of 1,007 feet (307 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 9/27 with an asphalt surface measuring 4,802 by 75 feet (1,464 x 23 m).[1][9]
The airport has a fixed-base operator that sells both avgas and Jet A. Services such as hangars, courtesy cars, and rental cars are available; amenities such as internet, conference rooms, vending machines, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, and more are also available.[10]
In 2012, a section of State Route 242 was closed to allow the airport to use all of its runway surface for landings; with the road in place, planes need to approach at a higher altitude and touch down further down the runway to meet FAA obstacle clearance requirements.[11]
In 2022, the Dark County Airport received $1.35 million to upgrade its FBO terminal, including funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act.[12][13] Construction on the new airport terminal began in 2023, and a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the airport was held in spring 2024.[14] The facility aims at expanding the airport's attraction, especially as traffic increases.[15][16]
Additional funding was received in 2023 to improve the terminal's facilities.[17][18]
For the 12-month period ending September 29, 2021, the airport had 12,775 aircraft operations, an average of 35 per day: 87% general aviation, 5% air taxi, and <1% military. At that time there were 29 aircraft based at the airport: 25 single-engine and 2 multi-engine airplanes as well as 1 jet and 1 helicopter.[1][9]