Ralph Wien Memorial Airport

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (ICAO: PAOT, FAA LID: OTZ, IATA: OTZ) is a civil, medium-sized airport, situated in a city on the Baldwin Peninsula, on the south side of Kotzebue, in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the united state of Alaska. Ralph Wien Memorial Airport is a state-owned and serves Kotzebue city. OTZ airport is a mid-sized airport for domestic flights. There are 14 domestic flights from Kotzebue. Three airlines are flying from and to OTZ airport, they are Bering Air, which serves 29 domestic destinations, Ravan Alaska serves 98 domestic destinations, and Alaska Airlines serves 102 domestic and 15 international destinations in 4 countries. The longest flight from Ralph Wien Memorial Airport is a 547 miles non-stop route to Anchorage. This direct flight is operated by Alaska and takes around 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport

General Information

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (ICAO: PAOT, FAA LID: OTZ, IATA: OTZ) is a civil, medium-sized airport, situated in a city on the Baldwin Peninsula, on the south side of Kotzebue, in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the united state of Alaska. Ralph Wien Memorial Airport is a state-owned and serves Kotzebue city. OTZ airport is a mid-sized airport for domestic flights. There are 14 domestic flights from Kotzebue. Three airlines are flying from and to OTZ airport, they are Bering Air, which serves 29 domestic destinations, Ravan Alaska serves 98 domestic destinations, and Alaska Airlines serves 102 domestic and 15 international destinations in 4 countries. The longest flight from Ralph Wien Memorial Airport is a 547 miles non-stop route to Anchorage. This direct flight is operated by Alaska and takes around 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Facility and aircraft

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport covers 1,480 acres of land in the area. The OTZ runway contains two runways, Runway 9/27 with asphalt paved surface is 5,900 x 150 feet, and Runway 18/36 with gravel surface is 3,876 x 90 feet. At the end of 2008, for 12 months, OTZ airport had over 59,860 aircraft operations an average of 164 per day.

The OTZ airport terminal is tiny, with minimal service. Security is also typical of any other United States Airport. During the hunting season, which is at the end of August and mid-September, the OTZ airport terminal is crowded, it is very chaotic during flights of departures and arrivals.

History

Governor Ernest Gruening dedicated the Ralph Wien Memorial Airport in 1951. The airport was named in honor of Ralph Wien, a Native of Nebagamon, Wisconsin, who was born in 1897. Ralph Wien and his brother Noel Wien are founders of Wien Air Alaska, the first airline of Alaska, and they arrived in Alaska in 1924 together. Ralph Wien died on Columbus day in 1930 when the Bellanca aircraft he was flying crashed in Kotzebue. The Superior general of Alaskan catholic missions Fr. Philip Delon and a priest Fr. William Walsh was on the board, and they also died in the accident.