Airport Overview & History
Chico Regional Airport (KCIC), renamed from Chico Municipal Airport in November 2022, traces its roots to the Chico Army Air Field, a World War II flight-training base established in 1942. A Titan-I missile site occupied the property in the early 1960s. Today the City of Chico owns and operates the field as the principal aviation gateway to the northern Sacramento Valley, roughly four miles north of downtown Chico.
Runway Capability
The primary runway, 13L/31R, offers 6,724 feet of grooved asphalt with an ILS approach, sufficient for light, midsize, and most super-midsize business jets at typical loads. The crosswind runway, 13R/31L, is 3,000 feet and used by piston and light traffic. At 240 feet elevation, density altitude is seldom a constraint, but heavy-jet crews should confirm performance against the available length.
Charter Considerations
KCIC is a practical departure point for charter travel into and out of Chico, Paradise, and the surrounding Butte County region. Because the field carries no scheduled airline service, most aircraft are positioned in from operators elsewhere in California; The Jet Finder compares positioning fees and hourly rates across nearby operators to match the right aircraft to your mission.
FBO & Ground Services
Northgate Aviation Chico Jet Center is the single FBO on the field, handling fueling (Jet-A and 100LL), line service, hangar storage, and ground coordination. Given the single-FBO setup, advance notice for transient jet arrivals, GPU, lav, and rental-car or car-service requests is recommended, particularly for after-hours operations when the control tower is closed.
Safety & Planning
The control tower operates only during daytime hours; outside those times the airport is non-towered Class E with pilots self-announcing on CTAF. Part 135 charter flights file IFR regardless of weather, taking advantage of the ILS and RNAV approaches. International itineraries require coordination of customs at another port of entry, as KCIC has no on-site Customs and Border Protection facility.
Seasonal & Operational Factors
Northern California's Sacramento Valley brings hot, dry summers and occasional dense tule fog in winter that can drop the field to IFR or below for extended periods. Late-summer and autumn wildfire smoke periodically reduces visibility regionally. The Chico Air Attack Base operates firefighting aircraft from the field, so expect increased tanker and lead-plane activity during fire season.
Regional Context
Chico anchors the northern Sacramento Valley, with Redding (KRDD) to the north and Sacramento's reliever and international fields roughly an hour's flight south. For travelers comparing options, KCIC's full-length ILS runway and single dedicated FBO make it the most capable business-aviation field in the immediate Chico-Oroville-Paradise area, well ahead of the surrounding GA strips.