Dawson Community Airport is five miles northwest of Glendive, in Dawson County, Montana, United States. The airport has one airline, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. The airport opened around 1970, replacing the airport on the east side of the river just north of I-94. Northwest Airlines served Glendive from about 1933 until 1936 as one of multiple stops on a route between Seattle and Chicago. Frontier Airlines started flights to the old airport in 1954; its Twin Otters pulled out of the new airport in 1980. The Federal Aviation Administration says this airport had 211 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 243 in 2009 and 427 in 2010. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation airport (the commercial service category requires at least 2,500 enplanements per year). Scheduled air service temporarily ceased on March 8, 2008, when Big Sky Airlines ended operations in bankruptcy. Great Lakes Airlines was given USDOT approval to take over Essential Air Service (EAS) and flights began in 2009. Service is currently provided under EAS contract by Cape Air. Facilities Dawson Community Airport covers 413 acres (167 ha) at an elevation of 2,458 feet (749 m). It has two asphalt runways: 12/30 is 5,704 by 100 feet (1,739 x 30 m) and 2/20 is 3,002 by 60 feet (915 x 18 m). In the year ending December 30, 2009, the airport had 5,815 aircraft operations, averaging 15 per day: 55% general aviation, 45% air taxi, and <1% military. 17 aircraft were then based at the airport, all single-engine. Airline and destination Statistics References Other sources Essential Air Service documents (Docket DOT-OST-1997-2605) from the U.S. Department of Transportation: Order 2005-12-20 (December 30, 2005): selecting Big Sky Transportation Co., d/b/a Big Sky Airlines, to continue providing essential air service at seven Montana communities (Glasgow, Glendive, Havre, Lewistown, Miles City, Sidney, and Wolf Point) for a new two-year period beginning March 1, 2006, at a subsidy of $6,838,934 annually. Order 2007-11-21 (November 26, 2007): selecting Big Sky Transportation Co., d/b/a Big Sky Airlines, to continue providing essential air service at seven Montana communities for a new two-year period beginning March 1, 2008, at a subsidy of $8,473,617 annually. Order 2007-12-22 (December 21, 2007): allowing Big Sky Transportation Co., d/b/a Big Sky Airlines, to suspend its subsidized essential air services at seven Montana communities on the date that Great