The Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport

AT A GLANCE ITHACA TOMPKINS REGIONAL AIRPORT WHAT: A public-use airport that supports commercial and general aviation WHERE: Upstate, New York WEBSITE: www.flyithaca.com T he Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport (ITH) is a public-use airport in upstate New York that supports commercial and general aviation. Located just ten minutes from Cornell University and downtown Ithaca, the Airport is close to many destinations in the Finger Lakes, a popular leisure and recreation area. The Airport also serves as a national and international link for Cornell, Ithaca College, and the area’s major employers. ITH is home to three major carriers; United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Airlines, as well as fixed-based-operator, Taughannock Aviation Corporation, a charter service provider. The City of Ithaca has played a major role in the development of the nation’s aviation industry, starting in the early 1900s, when a group of Cornell students formed an aeronautical club. The club had 80 members by 1903, when the Wright Brothers made their historic, first sustained-power flight. In 1914, the Ithaca Board of Trade invited aircraft designers, William T. and Oliver W. Thomas, to establish an aircraft manufacturing plant in the city. Formed near the conclusion of World War I, the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation became best known for its Thomas-Morse Scout. The city’s first airfield, the Ithaca Municipal Airport, is believed to be only the second airfield in New York State, located near an inlet to Cayuga Lake. In the years following World War II, Ithaca Tompkins AN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE