Question: How many aircraft must be based at an airport before it is considered a regional airport?
Answer: As of 2012, there were about 467 regional airports in the United States. In order to be designated as such, the airport must at least one based jet or at least 100 based aircraft. If it does not meet those criteria, it still may be designated as a regional airport if it is located in a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area, and the airport meets the definition of commercial service. The airport must also have at least 10 annual domestic IFR flights over 500 miles in radius and at least 1,000 annual IFR operations.
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