Airport Biography and Background
The Auburn Municipal Airport is a public use airfield centrally located within the I-5 corridor of Western Washington. Sitting 45 minutes south of Seattle and just 25 minutes north of Tacoma, we are perfectly situated to serve the growing needs of pilots and general aviation enthusiasts here in the Pacific Northwest.
At the direction of Mayor Shaughnessey in 1962, a committee was appointed to find a suitable location within the City of Auburn for construction of a new airport. After years of feasibility studies and the subsequent acquisition of funds, the Auburn Municipal Airport was opened in 1969 with a 2,900' runway and an adjacent paved taxiway. The Airport was renamed Dick Scobee Field in honor of the late Francis Richard Scobee, an Auburn native and the last commander of the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51L).
The Auburn Municipal Airport is classified as a Public-Use, General Aviation Regional-Reliever Airport within the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). Participation in the NPIAS is limited to public use airports that meet specific FAA activity criteria. The FAA recognizes NPIAS airports as being vital to serving the public needs of air transportation. In doing so, the FAA recognizes that access to the nation’s air transportation system is not limited to commercial air service. There are more than 3,300 NPIAS airports, of which more than 75 percent are general aviation airports similar to Auburn Municipal. Auburn Municipal is one of five airports in King County (Auburn, SEATAC, King County International/Boeing Field, Renton Municipal, and Vashon). Other nearby NPIAS airports are located in Puyallup (Pierce County/Thun Field) and Tacoma (Tacoma Narrows). The nearest scheduled commercial air service is available at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEATAC), less than 10 miles northwest of Auburn.