| Bentonville Municipal Airport | |
| Icao: | KVBT |
| Faa: | VBT |
| Type: | Public |
| Owner: | City of Bentonville |
| City-Served: | Bentonville, Arkansas |
| Elevation-F: | 1,296 |
| Elevation-M: | 395 |
| Coordinates: | 36.3458°N -94.2194°W |
| R1-Number: | 18/36 |
| R1-Length-F: | 4,082 |
| R1-Length-M: | 1,244 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| R2-Number: | 17/35 |
| R2-Length-F: | 2,400 |
| R2-Length-M: | 732 |
| R2-Surface: | Turf |
| Stat-Year: | 2009 |
| Stat1-Header: | Aircraft operations |
| Stat1-Data: | 18,100 |
| Stat2-Header: | Based aircraft |
| Stat2-Data: | 40 |
| Footnotes: | Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] |
Bentonville Municipal Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport located 2nmi south of the central business district of Bentonville, a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. It is also known as Louise M. Thaden Field or Louise Thaden Field, a name it was given in 1951 to honor Louise McPhetridge Thaden (1905–1979), an aviation pioneer from Bentonville.[2]
This airport is included in the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013, which categorizes it as a general aviation facility.[3]
Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Bentonville Municipal Airport is assigned VBT by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.[4]
Bentonville Municipal Airport covers an area of 140acres at an elevation of 1,296 feet (395 m) above mean sea level. It has one paved runway designated 18/36 with a surface measuring 4,426 by 65 feet (1,349 x 20 m) and one turf runway measuring 2,400 by 75 feet (732 x 23 m) designated 17/35, available for use in day VFR conditions.[5]
For the 12-month period ending August 31, 2015, the airport had 32,300 aircraft operations, an average of 88 per day: 99.7% general aviation and 0.3% military. At that time there were 77 aircraft based at this airport: 87% single-engine, 7.8% multi-engine and 2.6% helicopter.
In 2018 a major update of the airport was completed, including a new flight center, public meeting rooms, a museum, and a restaurant, "Louise", added to the northern border with Lake Bentonville.[6] [7]