Merle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport (IATA: CDV, ICAO: PACV, FAA LID: CDV) is a state-owned public-use airport located 11 nautical miles (13 mi, 20 km) southeast of the central business district of Cordova, a city in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska which has no road access to the outside world.[1] Airline service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 16,640 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,[2] 15,372 enplanements in 2009, and 17,856 in 2010.[3] It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015–2019, which categorized it as a primary commercial service (nonhub) airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year) based on 16,061 enplanements in 2012.[4] The airport is named after Merle K. Smith, also known as "Mudhole", a pilot who in 1939 became president of Cordova Airlines, which used the airport as a hub between 1934 and 1968.[5] Cordova Airlines was acquired by Alaska Airlines in 1968. Source: Wikipedia