General William J. Fox Airfield

General Wm. J. Fox Airfield
Fox Field (February 2008)
IATA: WJF ICAO: KWJF FAA LID: WJF
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	County of Los Angeles
Serves	Lancaster, California
Elevation AMSL	2,351 ft / 717 m
Coordinates	34°44′28″N 118°13′07″W / 34.74111°N 118.21861°W / 34.74111; -118.21861Coordinates: 34°44′28″N 118°13′07″W / 34.74111°N 118.21861°W / 34.74111; -118.21861
Map
WJF Location of airport in California
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 6/24 7,201 2,195 Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Aircraft operations 81,851 Based aircraft 157
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

General William J. Fox Airfield (IATA: WJF, ICAO: KWJF, FAA LID: WJF) is a county owned, public airport in Los Angeles County, California, five miles northwest of Lancaster, California. Locally known as Fox Field, the airport serves the Antelope Valley.

The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation facility. The airport has limited scheduled cargo operations. The U.S. Forest Service has a fixed wing airtanker base on the airfield which becomes one of the main hubs in the region for aerial firefighting suppression efforts during fire season.

Fox Field had scheduled passenger air service as early as the late 1950s operated by Southwest Airways with Douglas DC-3 aircraft primarily to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Southwest Airways then changed its name to Pacific Air Lines which in 1959 was operating new Fairchild F-27 turboprops from the airport nonstop to Las Vegas and also to Burbank Airport (BUR, now Bob Hope Airport) on a daily basis as well as operating Martin 4-0-4 and DC-3 prop aircraft on flights to LAX. By 1960, Pacific was operating daily F-27 propjet flights to San Francisco (SFO) from Fox Field via a stop in Bakersfield and also nonstop to LAX. In 1968, Pacific Air Lines merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West which in turn continued to serve the airport with F-27 flights to LAX. Also in 1968, Cable Commuter Airlines was operating de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter service to LAX. Air West then changed its name to Hughes Airwest which continued to operate scheduled passenger service with the Fairchild F-27 turboprop primarily to Los Angeles International Airport during the early 1970s with several nonstop flights a day. By 1983, Mojave Airlines was operating flights to LAX, San Diego, Ontario and Mammoth Yosemite Airport with Beechcraft C99 turboprops. In 1985, commuter air carrier Desert Sun Airlines was operating up to five flights a day nonstop to LAX with Beechcraft 99 turboprops.