Sedona Airport
IATA: SDX ICAO: KSEZ FAA LID: SEZ
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Yavapai County
Location	Sedona, Arizona
Elevation AMSL	4,830 ft / 1,472 m
Coordinates	34°51′00″N 111°47′24″W / 34.85000°N 111.79000°W / 34.85000; -111.79000
Website	http://sedonaairport.org/
Map
SEZ Show map of Arizona SEZ Show map of the United States
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 3/21 5,132 1,564 Asphalt
Helipads
Number Length Surface ft m H1 50 15 Concrete
Statistics (2022)
Aircraft operations (year ending 5/11/2022) 35,000 Based aircraft 63
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Sedona Airport (IATA: SDX, ICAO: KSEZ, FAA LID: SEZ) is a non-towered airport located 2 miles (1.7 nmi; 3.2 km) southwest of the central business district of Sedona, a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. The airport covers 220 acres (89 ha) and has one runway and one helipad.^[1]

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Sedona Airport is assigned SEZ by the FAA and SDX by the IATA^[2] (which assigned SEZ to Seychelles International Airport in Mahé, Seychelles^[3]).

The airport is located on top of a high mesa overlooking a major portion of the city; it has been termed a tabletop runway. It is not uncommon for tourists or locals driving around downtown Sedona to see an approaching airplane fly overhead and then suddenly disappear into the mountains without ever appearing to land. The airport is also located very close to the Red Rocks of Sedona.

The airport is well known as being the location of the flying lessons on the ground and in the air in Microsoft Flight Simulator,^[4] where it is also one of the handcrafted airports, giving real-life detail of the taxiways and runway.^[5]

History

The airport was inaugurated in 1955. At that time it had no paved runway, and animals such as coyotes could be seen walking around the air-strip. This proved dangerous to pilots arriving at Sedona. By 1957, a small, paved runway had been built.^[6]

By 1990, the airport's runway had been improved and it had begun to receive service from a local scheduled airline. Air Sedona, founded by Jack Seeley in 1981, served Sedona from such places as Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Las Vegas, the nearby Grand Canyon airport and others until 1995.^[7] Sedona's airport is not able to accommodate commercial jets of a size of a Boeing 737 or larger. It does, however, attract a large number of smaller business jets and aircraft such as Cessna and Beech airplanes and helicopters.

At one point, the airport was served by Desert Pacific Airlines.^[8]

Scenic Airlines discontinued service at Sedona in April 1997.^[9]

Accidents and incidents

• On April 13, 2003, a Beechcraft Bonanza carrying three people collided with terrain after striking the fence to the southwest of runway 21. The flight instructor, student, and passenger were all fatally injured in the crash.^[10]
• Two-time Olympic distance runner Pat Porter, his 15-year-old son Connor, and a friend of his son, 14-year-old Connor Mantsch, died when their airplane, a Beechcraft Duke piloted by Porter, crashed after takeoff from the airport, on July 26, 2012.^[11][12]
• On April 25, 2021, a Cessna 182 Skylane crashed, resulting in two people injured.^[13]