Sioux Gateway Airport Brigadier General Bud Day Field | |||||||||||||||
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 Sioux Gateway Airport in 2025 | |||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Sioux Gateway Airport Authority | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Sioux City, Iowa | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,098 ft / 335 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 42°24′09″N096°23′04″W / 42.40250°N 96.38444°W /42.40250; -96.38444 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www.FlySUX.com | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  SUX Location of airport in Iowa Show map of Iowa SUX SUX (the United States) Show map of the United States | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2021) | |||||||||||||||
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| Source:Federal Aviation Administration[1][2] | |||||||||||||||
Sioux Gateway Airport (IATA:SUX[3],ICAO:KSUX,FAALID:SUX), also known asBrigadier General Bud Day Field, is a public and military use airport inWoodbury County, Iowa, United States.[1] It is located sixnautical miles (7 mi, 11 km) south of thecentral business district ofSioux City,[1] just west ofSergeant Bluff. On May 25, 2002, the airport was named in honor of United States Air Force ColonelGeorge Everette "Bud" Day, a Sioux City, Iowa, native who is the only person ever awarded both theMedal of Honor and theAir Force Cross.
TheNational Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015categorized it as aprimary commercial service airport since it has over 10,000 passenger boardings (enplanements) per year.[4] As per theFederal Aviation Administration, this airport had 28,137 enplanements incalendar year 2011, an increase of 13.91% from 24,701 in 2010.[5]
The airport is home to the185th Air Refueling Wing (185 ARW), anAir Mobility Command (AMC)-gained unit of theIowa Air National Guard, flying theKC-135 Stratotanker, as well asSioux City Air National Guard Base.
The airport is owned and operated by the city of Sioux City and governed by a seven-member Airport Board of Trustees. Airport Board members are appointed by the City Council and serve four-year terms.
The construction ofSioux City Army Air Base began in March 1942, about three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Opened on July 5, 1942, it became a major training center duringWorld War II[6] for crewmen ofB-24 Liberators andB-17 Flying Fortresses. With the end of World War II, the former training base switched to becoming a processing center to discharge personnel out of the service and back into civilian life.
Sioux City Army Air Base closed in December 1945,[7] but in September 1946, the airfield was opened by theAir Force Reserve. Sioux City Air Base was one of the first Air Force Reserve bases established after the war, and in December 1946, the 185th Iowa Air National Guard unit was established at Sioux City. Assigned to the newAir Defense Command (ADC) upon reactivation, the 140th Army Air Force Base Unit was activated as its host organization.[8] The mission of the 140th AAFBU was to offer flight and ground training to all commissioned and enlisted members of the Air Force Reserve residing in Iowa,Minnesota,Nebraska,South Dakota andWyoming.[9]
By the mid-1960s, ADC was reducing its forces, and on April 1, 1966, the 31st AD was reassigned and the airport was turned over to the Air Force Reserve andIowaAir National Guard for limited military use.
The airport designator "SUX" has been contentious, due to the name sounding identical to the slang word "sucks".[a] Sioux City Mayor Craig Berenstein in 2002 described SUX as an "embarrassment" to the city.[10] After petitioning theFAA for a changedairport identifier in 1998 and 2002, authorities found the alternatives offered - GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV, and GAY - to be unappealing, and elected to stay with SUX.[10] In October 2007, airport board member Dave Bernstein proposed embracing the identifier, saying "Let's make the best of it. I think we have the opportunity to turn it into a positive," and noting "I've got buddies that I went to college with in different cities that can't even remember their own birthdays, but they all know the Sioux City designator — SUX."[10] The airport now sells merchandise with the words "Fly SUX".[11][12]
For several years the only airline service was fromNorthwest Airlines, commuter service on Northwest Airlink toMinneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport.[13] In October 2007,Frontier Airlines began service with two daily flights between its Denver hub and Sioux City.[14] The new service from Frontier quickly expanded to three daily non-stop flights to Denver and helped passenger traffic increase by over 150%.[13] In April 2008, Frontier announced it would be ending service to Sioux City on May 12, citing economic conditions after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[15]
In July 2011,Delta Air Lines (who merged with Northwest in 2009) told theUnited States Department of Transportation that a weak economy and lower seat demand would force the company to reduce flights to several smaller communities including Sioux City unless it received assistance from the federal government.[16] Delta said planes left Sioux Gateway with an average of only 51.4% of their seats full, so given that the company planned to remove turboprop planes and some of its 50-seat jets from service by the end of 2011 it wasn't economically viable for Delta to continue service.[16] Of the average 75 passengers who flew the SUX-MSP route each day, only nine flew directly to the Twin Cities or to Sioux City, according to theMetropolitan Airports Commission.[17] The majority of passengers were connecting throughMSP to destinations such asChicago,Phoenix orOrlando.[17] Delta made its final flights into Sioux Gateway in April 2012.[17]
American Airlines announced on December 9, 2011, that their subsidiary,American Eagle, would begin serving Sioux City fromChicago O'Hare in the spring of 2012.[18] American ended service to Sioux City on April 5, 2021.
Sioux Gateway Airport covers 2,460acres (996ha) at anelevation of 1,098 feet (335 m) abovemean sea level. It has tworunways: 13/31 is 9,002 by 150 feet (2,744 x 46 m)concrete and 18/36 is 6,401 by 150 feet (1,951 x 46 m)asphalt.[1]
In June 2011, work was completed on a $6.2 million remodeling of the 58-year-old terminal building.[19] The City of Sioux City received federal and state funds that picked up 78 percent of the $6.2 million cost to renovate the terminal building. The city received a Federal Aviation Administration grant for the new passenger loading bridge, plus $3.97 million in federal stimulus funds and a state Airport Vertical Infrastructure grant. The city's share was $1.4 million, which was about twice as much as originally estimated caused construction problems due to termite and drainage damage.[19]
In the year ending December 31, 2021, the airport had 19,509 aircraft operations: an average of 53 per day: 51%general aviation, 25% military, 14%air taxi, and 9% airline. At that time, there were 66 aircraft based at SUX: 41 single-engine, 3 multi-engine, 11 jet, 2 helicopters, and 9 military.[1]
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| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| United Express | Chicago–O'Hare,Denver |
| Destinations map |
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Destinations from Sioux Gateway Airport Red = Year-round destination Green = Seasonal destination |
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Media related toSioux Gateway Airport at Wikimedia Commons
