Republic Airport is a regional airport located one mile east of Farmingdale municipal boundaries in East Farmingdale, New York. It was designated as a general aviation relief airport in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015. According to FAA statistics, the airport recorded 3,586 passenger boardings in the calendar year 2008, 2,866 in 2009, and 2,783 in 2010.
Sherman Fairchild built Republic Airport in East Farmingdale, Long Island, NY in late 1927 after his flying field and airplane factory on Motor Avenue in South Farmingdale proved insufficient to sustain mass production of his Fairchild FC-2 and Fairchild 71 planes. On November 3, 1927, Fairchild purchased land on the south side of Route 24-Conklin Street and had the airport’s original layout plan produced.
Fairchild Engine & Airplane Manufacturing Company created the 77.967-acre (315,520 m2) flying field in late winter and early spring of 1928, and it was initially owned and operated by Fairchild Engine & Airplane Manufacturing Company. After the Fairchild Airplane and Airplane Engine factories and hangar were finished and aircraft were constructed in the new factories, the first flights from the Fairchild Flying Field took place in late spring of 1928. From 1932 to the spring of 1937, Grumman Aircraft Engineering constructed planes at the Hagerstown Airport after Fairchild moved there in 1931.
During the Vietnam War, Republic Aviation produced nearly 800 F-105 Thunderchief fighter bombers. In 1965, the Fairchild-Hiller Corp. bought Republic Aviation for $24.5 million in cash and Fairchild shares. Beginning on December 7, 1966, Flight Safety Inc. operated the Republic Airfield as a general aviation airport for the Mailman brothers’ Farmingdale Corporation, which had purchased the field from Fairchild Hiller for $8 million in 1965.
On the first floor of the Republic Airport terminal building, behind the FAA tower on the east side of Route 110, the Long Island Republic Airport Historical Society, founded in 1984 and chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York in 1987, maintains sixteen photographic exhibits illustrating the history of aviation, as well as historical archives.
A two-story terminal facility at Republic Airport serves travelers boarding charter flights to adjacent locations such as Atlantic City, New Jersey. SheltAir, Republic Jet Center (associated with Signature Aviation), and Atlantic Aviation are three fixed-base operators that serve corporate and light general aviation customers. The terminal building houses a US Customs and Border Protection office, however, it is only open by appointment, and pilots must seek immigration services four hours ahead of arrival.
At Republic Airport’s main headquarters and terminal building, there is a full-time Index A ARFF staff. Two crash trucks and a support vehicle pickup truck are available at the airport. When mutual help is required, the East Farmingdale Volunteer Fire Company and the Village of Farmingdale Fire Department both serve the airport. An ARFF truck from Republic Airport responds to a plane crash in a nearby neighborhood. Outside of the airport, Republic Airport Fire Rescue also responds to aviation-related incidents.
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