Valley International Airport

Valley International Airport is a city owned airport three miles northeast of Harlingen, in Cameron County, Texas. It is the busiest airport in the Rio Grande Valley by passenger count.The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport. Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 417,557 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 367,269 in 2009 and 373,438 in 2010.HistoryAfter the airport's closure by the military in 1962, after a 1961 Budget Proposal by John F. Kennedy to close 70 Air bases stateside, it was turned over to the City of Harlingen, and converted to civil use as Valley International Airport after Hurricane Beulah flooded the original Harlingen civil airport in 1967.FacilitiesValley International Airport covers at an elevation of 36ft. It has three asphalt runways: 17R/35L is 8,301 by 150 feet (2,530 x 46 m); 13/31 is 7,257 by 150 feet (2,212 x 46 m); 17L/35R is 5,949 by 150 feet (1,813 x 46 m).In 2011 the airport had 43,731 aircraft operations, averaging 119 per day: 36% general aviation, 34% military, 22% airline, and 8% air taxi. 32 aircraft were then based at the airport: 88% single-engine, 9% multi-engine, and 3% jet.