North Platte Regional Airport Lee Bird Field Guide

North Platte Regional Airport Lee Bird Field sits about three miles east of North Platte, in Lincoln County, Nebraska. It is the commercial airport for the western Nebraska Sandhills and the Platte valley, a long way from any larger hub. The airport covers 1,544 acres at 2,777 feet above sea level, and the North Platte Airport Authority has run it since July 1963.

The field dates to 1921, when it was built with private funds on the east side of the North Platte River. It hosted the first night airmail flight that February. The city bought it in 1929 and leased it to Boeing Transport Company. In 1941 it was renamed for Lee Bird, a local man killed in 1918 while training as a pilot in the First World War. The current name dates from June 1992.

Two runways serve the field: 12/30 is 8,001 feet of concrete and 17/35 is 4,436 feet of asphalt. Most of the 28,300 operations recorded in 2018 were general aviation. Airline service is a daily SkyWest flight to Denver for United Express, subsidized under the Essential Air Service program. FedEx Feeder flights to Omaha carry cargo. A new passenger terminal opened in August 2026 with the airport's first jet bridge and a larger secure boarding area.