Van Wert County Airport

The Van Wert County Airport (ICAO: KVNW, FAA LID: VNW) is a publicly owned, public use airport located 2 miles southwest of Van Wert in Van Wert County, Ohio. The airport is primarily a general aviation facility and serves small, privately owned aircraft.^[1]

The airport partners with Purdue University to be a satellite training facility for aviation, allowing students to earn credits towards a degree.^[2][3]

The airport hosts a regular fly in/cruise in with planes, cars, and motorcycles on display.^[4]

The airport was dedicated on 24 June 1928.^[5]

A severe storm on 19 March 1948 seriously damaged the airport and fourteen airplanes located there.^[6]

By early October 1951, the city had purchased 350 acres (140 ha) and a new 2,000-foot (610 m) paved runway was under construction.^[7][8] It was in use by late June of the following year.^[9] However, by 1958, this was viewed as too short and a longer runway was requested.^[10] The airport was almost relocated further west in the early 1960s, but the death of the airport manager in an air racing crash prevented the move. Instead, the runway was extended to 3,200 feet (980 m) in 1962.^[11][12] A plan to add another 1,300 feet (400 m) was announced in December 1967.^[13]

By 1972, a group of citizens opposed to expanding the airport in its existing location had arisen.^[14] The city sued three local landowners in January 1973 to acquire their 40 acres (16 ha) for the airport and the following month was counter sued by a fourth individual whose 74 acres (30 ha) were also needed.^[15]

By 2005, the parallel taxiway had been extended to 3,000 feet (910 m) and an AWOS added.^[16]

The FBO's terminal building was upgraded in 2021.^[3][17] The project cost $1.6 million and was built with private funds. New facilities included classrooms, a new lounge, and space to stay overnight.^[2] In 2023, an airport expansion went up for debate, including a potential runway expansion in order to handle bigger jets. The airport pursued both public and private funding options to support the growth.^[18] Later in 2023, the airport received nearly $90,000 from the FAA to upgrade its lighting system. Relevant projects included reconstructing the runway lighting system, constructing a lighting vault to meet FAA standards, and installing replacement runway end identifier lights to make the airport more accessible by improving approaches to the runway.^[19] The runway was lengthened to 5,005 feet (1,526 m) in 2025.^[20]

The airport has two runways. Runway 9/27 measures 4,000 x 75 ft (1219 x 23 m) and is paved with asphalt; runway 18/36 measures 2558 x 95 ft (780 x 29 m) and is made of turf.^[1]

The airport has a county-operated fixed-base operator. It sells fuel, both Avgas and Jet A; offers services such as general maintenance, catering, hangars, courtesy transportation, and rental cars; and provides amenities such as conference rooms, pilot supplies, a crew lounge, snooze rooms, and showers.^[21]

For the 12-month period ending September 24, 2020, the airport had 27,375 aircraft operations, an average of 75 per day; it was entirely general aviation. For the same time period, 22 aircraft were based at the airport: 20 single-engine airplanes, 1 multi-engine airplane, and 1 jet.^[1]