Merle K. Smith Airport

Merle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport is a state owned, public use airport located 11 nautical miles (13 mi, 20 km) southeast of the central business district of Cordova, a city in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska which has no road access to the outside world. Airline service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 16,640 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 15,372 enplanements in 2009, and 17,856 in 2010. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015-2019, which categorized it as a primary commercial service (nonhub) airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year) based on 16,061 enplanements in 2012. The airport is named after Merle K. Smith, also known as "Mudhole", a pilot who in 1939 became president of Cordova Airlines, which used the airport as a hub between 1934 and 1968. Cordova Airlines was acquired by Alaska Airlines in 1968.Facilities and aircraftMerle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport covers an area of 2,959 acres (1,197 ha) at an elevation of 54 feet (16 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways: 9/27 is 7,500 by 150 feet (2,286 x 46 m) with an asphalt surface; 16/34 is 1,899 by 30 feet (579 x 9 m) with a gravel surface.