Dan Bandel, manager of the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, Pendleton, stands Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, with a prototype unmanned aircraft in a hangar at the airport. He said the Airbus project has had more than 100 successful flights.

PENDLETON — The Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton is alive and well, airport manager Dan Bandel said, and making history with drone research and development.

Bandel in a recent update to the Pendleton City Council reported total operations at the airport varied but generally ranged between 1,024 and 1,651 per month with an outlying number of 742 in February. Bandel said an operation is when an aircraft takes off or lands at the airport.

These numbers don’t include unmanned aerial systems, or drones, which peaked so far this year at 1,388 operations for July.

Bandel said there were around 23,000 UAS operations in 2022, but that was an anomaly due to a significant amount of redundant test flights. He said this year is on track for 7,000-8,000 UAS operations.

Bandel said the count for Boutique Airline flights, the small passenger airline providing 21 flights per week to and from Pendleton under a federal grant, totaled 1,436, which is relatively the same as in 2022. However, the report also notes the number of enplanements, or the number of people boarding planes, for May, June and July of this year increased by about 100 people for the same span in 2022.

He said the number of general aviation operations varies based on the needs and wants of pilots, and military operations vary based on the mission.

Bandel credited the UAS research and development for the financial success of the airport. Six or seven years ago the airport was in the red, but since then it has quadrupled revenue with the research and development. Now, he said, the airport has “never been busier.”