La Crosse Regional Airport
La Crosse Regional Airport
La Crosse Regional Airport (IATA: LSE, ICAO: KLSE, FAA LID: LSE) is a public airport located 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) northwest of La Crosse, a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. Until August 2013, the airport was called La Crosse Municipal Airport. It occupies the northern area of French Island, next to the Mississippi River. La Crosse's airport is the closest scheduled airline airport to the U.S. Army Fort McCoy base near Sparta, Wisconsin. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2025–2029 categorized it as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. It is the sixth busiest of eight commercial airports in Wisconsin in terms of passengers served.
Location
43.879°N, 91.257°O · 200 m s. n. m. (655 ft)
General data
Runways · 3
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 5 Official publication
Tower
Ground
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
UNICOM
Frequencies from the official publication: FAA NASR, AIRAC 01 OCT 2026, checked on Oct 16, 2026. They change with each amendment: not for navigation without checking the current AIP. See the official publication In MHz.
History
The La Crosse Municipal Airport was first dedicated as a Class IV airfield on March 1, 1947. Prior, air traffic in La Crosse was hosted at Salzer Field which first opened in 1919 on the city's south side.
The city opened the present day public terminal in 1988. Various hangar and facility expansions and upgrades occurred in the years following.
In 1998 President Bill Clinton flew to La Crosse in AF1 Boeing 707 (VC-137C SAM 26000). This was the last time a US President flew on this plane, which was retired to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Other presidents who have flown into La Crosse's airport include Truman, Ford, Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, and Obama.
One of the world's largest cargo jets, a Russian Antonov An-124, has flown to La Crosse airport. The US military C-5A cargo and KC-10 Extender cargo/refueling jets have been at the annual summer Deke Slayton Airshow (area astronaut), Airfest at the airport, along with vintage and modern military and private planes. The show has also featured the US Navy Blue Angels and the US Air Force Thunderbirds.
In the past, Sun Country Airlines has flown DC-10 (380 passenger seats) on charter flights from La Crosse to other cities. The New Orleans Saints NFL football team flew the 180-seat Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 planes each week to La Crosse for summer camp, and to and from NFL cities for pre-season games.
The airport's control tower was one of 143 towers slated for closure by the FAA due to the 2013 federal sequester. However, the closures did not occur after Congress restored funding to the FAA.
In 2013 the La Crosse Municipal Airport was renamed and rebranded to La Crosse Regional Airport, in an effort to reflect its broader reach for commercial air access across the region. A multi-year remodel began later that year.
In 2016 the La Crosse Regional Airport completed its $14 million remodel featuring a new security checkpoint, mechanical and electrical systems, a new restaurant and bar, and reconfigured gates on the terminal's upper level. That year 200,000 passengers traveled through the airport.
As of 2026 commercial air at La Crosse Regional Airport is provided by Allegiant Air, American Airlines, and United Airlines. Airport officials are working to return Delta Airlines service which would provide a fourth major carrier.
What flies here
From our own logbook: 132 aircraft documented between 2007 and 2025.
Types seen here
Airlines with documented aircraft
Busiest routes from here
A count of our own aircraft profiles, year by year, from the public United States flight records: it reflects what we have documented, not the airport’s total traffic.
Airlines operating here · 3
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 16, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 16). La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE). Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/LSE
MLA
“La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 16 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/LSE. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 16, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/LSE.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/LSE (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_lse,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-16},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/LSE},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/LSE}},
urldate = {2026-10-18},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-18}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/LSE |title=La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-16 |access-date=2026-10-18 |language=en}}