Columbia Regional Airport is a commercial passenger airport serving

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourt ...

. Located about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Columbia in

Boone County, Missouri Boone County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Centrally located in Mid-Missouri, its county seat is Columbia, Missouri's fourth-largest city and location of the University of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 183,6 ...

, it is the only commercial airport in

Mid-Missouri Mid-Missouri is a loosely-defined region comprising the central area of the U.S. state of Missouri. The region's largest city is Columbia (population 121,717); the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City, and the University of Missouri are also l ...

and also serves the state capital of

Jefferson City Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of Missouri, United States. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 15th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the principa ...

. As of 2022, commercial passenger service is provided by

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

subsidiary American Eagle. The airport opened in , replacing the Columbia Municipal Airport off of

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

. It is frequently used for charter flights by college athletic teams visiting the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

and for MU team flights. Airport officials have extended the 6,500-foot runway to 7,400 feet and a new 5,400 foot crosswind runway was put in service in 2019. A new 56,000 sf terminal with three jetways is slated to open in the fall of 2022. It is included in the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2021–2025, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

records say the airport had 12,719 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any ...

2008, 26,842 in 2009 and 38,293 in 2010. Scheduled passenger service was subsidized by the U.S. Department of Transportation via the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

program until 2010, when

Pinnacle Airlines Endeavor Air is an American regional airline that operates as Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. The airline was founded as Express Airlines I in 1985 and was renamed Pinnacle Airlines in 2002. In 2012, Pinnacle's parent company filed for Chap ...

dba

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...

began providing subsidy-free service.

History

1920s - 1980s In 1928, the Columbia Municipal Airport was founded and located on US Highway 40 at the western edge of Columbia. The site today is part of Cosmo Recreation Center managed by Columbia Parks and Recreation and the roadway is known as Business Loop 70 West. The land was leased from the Allton Brothers, who had previously operated a flying service there. Part of the current Candlelight lodge on the north side of Business Loop 70 was then known as the Allton Hotel. For a brief time, the Allton Hotel was used by Stephens College as classrooms to teach aeronautics to Stephens College women. Improvements were made with Civil Aeronautics Administration assistance so that the airport would serve as an emergency landing field for the airway between Kansas City and St. Louis. In 1960, the Columbia Airport consisted of 470 acres purchased at a cost of $154,000 of which only $8,723.47 was contributed by the Federal Aviation Agency. In 1962, the National Airport Plan recommended that Columbia have a 5,300-foot runway to accommodate the Convair CV340 at Columbia Municipal Airport and to determine whether it was practical to develop the existing site and provide for reasonable expansion capabilities. The estimated cost for the improvement would cost $3,000,000 for clearing, grading, runway extension, taxiway, apron, acquisition of south instrument approach zone and terminal building. A prominent feature of the Columbia Airport study was the conclusion that a need existed for a Mid-Missouri Regional Air Terminal serving both Columbia and Jefferson City. News releases by the Federal Aviation Agency and trade publications indicated that consolidation of subsidized service to cities as close as Columbia and Jefferson City may be required in the future as a condition of the subsidy. The airport would be the regional airport for several Mid-Missouri cities including Jefferson City, Fulton, Mexico, and Boonville. Another advantage in building a regional airport is that the new airport could be under construction and completed without disturbing the air traffic at the existing Columbia Municipal Airport. Twenty-three sites were examined upon which an airfield might be established, and the search was narrowed to five: Highway K, Fulton Road, Highway M, Highway DD and Highway H. On Oct. 23, 1963, Horner and Shifrin Consulting Engineers of St. Louis submitted a report to the City of Columbia. They recommended the Highway H (also known as the Elkhurst) site. The estimated cost of the entire development was $3,410,000, of which it was expected that $1,515,000 would be a grant under the Federal Aid Airport Program administered by the Federal Aviation Agency. The Columbia City Council called for a bond election, which was approved in January 1964. In May 1966, the Federal Aviation Agency approved a federal grant to pay part of the cost of buying the airport site. A grant of $131,586 was the first of several allocations from the federal government to help pay for the new $3.5 million facility. In November 1966, the city had obtained 183 acres for the airport site. By August 11, 1967, ground was broken, officially beginning construction on Columbia Regional Airport. The main 6500-foot runway had its dedication November 2, 1968 and the new Columbia Regional Airport opened in December 1968. The airport bond was paid off in the spring of 1986. 2000s - Present Until 2001, Trans World Express ( Trans States Airlines)

Jetstream 41 The British Aerospace Jetstream 41 is a turboprop-powered feederliner and regional airliner, designed by British Aerospace as a stretched version of the popular Jetstream 31. Intended to compete directly with 30-seat aircraft like the Embrae ...

s flew to St. Louis. After Trans World merged with American, American Connection ( Trans States Airlines) Jetstream 41s flew to St. Louis until 2006.

US Airways Express US Airways Express was the brand name for the regional affiliate of US Airways, under which a number of individually owned commuter air carriers and regional airlines operate short and medium haul routes. This code sharing service was previously ...

(

Air Midwest Air Midwest, Inc., was a Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificated air carrier that operated under air carrier certificate number AMWA510A issued on May 15, 1965. It was headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States, and was a sub ...

)

Beechcraft 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With ...

s replaced American Connection, flying to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Service to St. Louis was later dropped in favor of additional frequencies to Kansas City. In 2008,

Northwest Airlink Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium-siz ...

(

Mesaba Airlines Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (operating as Mesaba Airlines) was an American regional airline based in Eagan, Minnesota From 2010 to 2012 the airline was a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation with code sharing flights operated as De ...

) replaced

, flying

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different o ...

s to Memphis. Later that year,

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

merged with

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along ...

. Delta Connection switched service from

CRJ-200s in 2010. In June 2012, ExpressJet Airlines replaced Pinnacle Airlines as the

carrier at Columbia and service to Atlanta began; in October 2012, service to Memphis was dropped. ExpressJet CRJ-200s flew to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

and

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

. Delta pulled out of Columbia Regional Airport on February 13, 2013. In August 2012,

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

announced plans for twice weekly flights from Columbia to

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

. In November 2012, Frontier started twice weekly flights to Orlando using

Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final assem ...

aircraft. Frontier ended service to Orlando on May 13, 2013. On October 22, 2012, it was announced by then-Columbia mayor Bob McDavid that

and the City of Columbia reached an agreement that was approved by the Columbia City Council for air service from Columbia to

Chicago–O'Hare Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

and Dallas/Fort Worth and service to those two cities began in February 2013. The 2013 Federal sequester resulted in a planned closure of the airport's contract

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

. The plan was postponed and later canceled. On February 27, 2017, Columbia and

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

officials announced that starting August 1, 2017, there would be one daily flight to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and two daily flights to

. The new service lines added an additional 150 seats per day for a total 417 seats per day from Columbia. In April 2019, United Airlines added an additional flight to and from Chicago O'Hare for a total of 3 flights each direction. American Airlines followed suit adding two additional flights to Chicago-O'Hare for a total of 4 in each direction. In total, COU now has seven flights a day to and from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), three a day to and from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), and one a day to and from Denver (DEN). All are operated on 50-76 seat regional jets. On April 18, 2019, at a coffee round-table discussing the new terminal master plan, future destinations, and parking at the airport, it was revealed the airport hopes to add an additional 200 parking spots as well as have a design for the new terminal by the end of the year. Passengers expressed interest in adding

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

to the airport's growing list of destinations. As for the new terminal, preliminary sketches uploaded to the airport's website call for adding two more gates (for a total of four) with jet bridges built just to the south of the existing terminal. The new terminal began construction in November 2020 with the terminal opening on October 19, 2022.

Facilities

The airport covers 1,538

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s (622 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of 889 feet (271 m). It has two

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

s: 2/20 is 7,402 by 150 feet (2,256 x 46 m)

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

; 13/31 is 5,500 by 100 feet (1,341 x 23 m)

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

. For the 12-month period ending October 30, 2019, the airport had 24,564 aircraft operations, average 67 per day: 70%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 23%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, 4% airline, and 3% military. In December 2021, there were 45 aircraft based at this airport:: 21 single-engine, 9 multi-engine, 14 jet, and 1

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

. In calendar year 2017, the airport had 88,650 enplanements, a 36.36% increase from 65,014 in 2016 and ranked as #243 out of 555 on the list of FAA airports with the most enplanements.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Statistics

Carrier shares

Top destinations

Accidents and incidents

* On January 11, 2019,

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

Flight 5766, en route from Dallas-Fort Worth, slid off the runway after landing in icy and snowy conditions. The

Bombardier CRJ-900 The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from t ...

, operated by

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...

, was the first flight to attempt to land at the airport after the ground crew cleared the runway of ice and snow. Reports state the runway was still very slick with ice.

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2006-23931
from the U.S. Department of Transportation: *
Notice (February 9, 2006)
of Trans States Airlines, Inc. d/b/a American Connection submitting notice of its intent to terminate service to Columbia, Missouri, on or after May 9, 2006. *
Order 2006-4-6 (April 11, 2006)
prohibiting Trans States Airlines, Inc., d/b/a American Connection, from suspending its service at Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri, at the end of its 90-day notice period, and requesting proposals, with or without subsidy requests, from carriers interested in providing replacement service. *
Order 2006-6-21 (June 26, 2006)
selecting Air Midwest, Inc. d/b/a US Airways Express, to provide essential air service at Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri, for a two-year period at a subsidy of $598,751 annually. *
Notice (January 21, 2008)
Air Midwest, Inc. serving notice of its intent to discontinue scheduled subsidized Essential Air Service between Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri and both Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis, Missouri effective April 20, 2008. *
Order 2008-2-2 (February 6, 2008)
prohibiting Air Midwest from terminating its subsidized service at nine communities (Grand Island, NE; McCook, NE; El Dorado/Camden, AR; Harrison, AR; Hot Springs, AR; Jonesboro, AR; Columbia/Jefferson City, MO; Joplin, MO; Kirksville, MO) for 30 days beyond the end of its 90-day notice period, and requesting long term proposals from carriers interested in providing essential air service at any or all of the communities, with or without subsidy, by February 29. *
Order 2008-5-2 (May 5, 2008)
selects Mesaba Aviation, Inc. d/b/a Northwest Airlink to provide essential air service at Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri, beginning when the carrier inaugurates service through the 24th month thereafter. Scheduled Service: 20 nonstop round trips to Memphis each week. Aircraft type: Saab 340 (34 passenger seats). Annual compensation: $2,186,590. *
Order 2010-3-35 (March 31, 2010)
relying on Delta Air Lines to provide subsidy-free essential air service (EAS) at Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri, and terminating the carrier-selection case effective September 1, 2010, when the currently effective EAS contract at the community expires.

External links

Columbia Regional Airport
official site
Aerial image as of April 1995
from

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'' * * {{Columbia, Missouri Airports in Missouri Former Essential Air Service airports Transportation in Columbia, Missouri Buildings and structures in Columbia, Missouri Buildings and structures in Boone County, Missouri