Bermuda Dunes Airport Profile
Revised January 2023
The Bermuda Dunes Airport is a privately owned “Public Use General Aviation, Utility Category Airport.” It is FAA approved and operates under State of California and County of Riverside permits. The airport receives no agency funding of any kind and operates without financial burden or obligation to the surrounding municipalities and general public. Operation cost of the airport is borne by the owners and users of the facility.
Facilities include a 5,000×70 foot lighted runway and taxiway, one 15,000 square foot community hangar and maintenance shop, one 13,500 square foot community hangar, lobby, pilot’s lounge, and office complex. There is also approximately 500,000 square feet of aircraft ramp and parking space and a 44,000 square foot T-hangar complex, which will accommodate 43 aircraft.
In 2021, the airport underwent various, substantial changes with regards to staffing and facilities. The airport has since introduced new management, facilitated employment opportunities for those new to aviation, introduced a new maintenance operation and is currently engaged in a remodeling process for both the lobby and the adjacent 15,000 square foot hangar. A repaving project covering over 6.5 acres of East parking ramp was completed in January in 2022. The entire runway and large portion of the taxiway were repaved in September 2022.
Bermuda Dunes Airport is one of the very few successful privately owned, public use airport operations in Southern California. The airport accommodates between ten and twenty percent of the “General Aviation Traffic” in the Coachella Valley. “General Aviation Traffic” includes: Business, Corporate, Charter, Aero Medical, Flight Instruction, Aircraft Rental, Scenic, Aircraft Sales and Maintenance, Private and Recreational operations.
There are approximately 18,500 operational activities (landings and takeoffs) per year which result in some 50,000 passenger activities. There are approximately 100 aircraft based at the airport with most of the ownership by private individuals complemented by some business and corporate operators. The types of aircraft range from small, single engine piston to multi-engine corporate jets.
Bermuda Dunes Airport is a designated emergency facility of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG), which is the organization that administers emergency services for disaster control for the Coachella Valley. In this capacity, the airport provides an operation base for evacuation, transportation services of emergency personnel, and other related emergency aviation activities and communications.
The runway and ramp facilities are open 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The terminal facilities operate from 0600 (6:00 AM) to 2000 (8:00 PM) local time seven days a week (0600-1930 from June 1 to September 30). Bermuda Dunes is a non-towered airport with a UNICOM radio facility that provides pilots with advisory information as to the wind conditions, runway in use and air traffic. There is a published “Visual Flight Rule” (VFR) traffic pattern and noise abatement procedure that enhances safety and minimizes noise and impact that flight operations may have on the surrounding communities. Included is a curfew for turbine operations (jets) between the hours of 2300 (11:00 PM) and 0600 (6:00 AM) local time.