History
Harold English opened this airport as English Field in 1929. Also in 1929, Transcontinental & Western Air (the forerunner to TWA) inaugurated the first commercial airline service through Amarillo. Regularly scheduled services to Lubbock and Dallas were provided by Braniff International, Continental Airlines and Trans-Texas Airways (which was later rebranded as Texas International). Additionally, Trans World Airlines provided regularly scheduled service to such cities as Wichita, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles (nonstop) from this facility. Lockheed Jet-Prop Electra service was provided to Denver and Oklahoma City on Braniff International. Frontier Airlines provided regional service (Oklahoma/Kansas) utilizing Convair prop aircraft. Convenient connecting service at Dallas Love Field with American, Delta, Braniff International and Eastern Air Lines linked Amarillo with South, Southeast, Midwest, West Coast and East Coast destinations.
In 1952, the name changed to Amarillo Air Terminal. After the adjacent Amarillo Air Force Base was deactivated in 1968, a portion of it was converted to civilian use and became part of Amarillo Air Terminal. The primary instrument runway, while originally constructed as part of the former USAF Strategic Air Command base, at 13,502 feet (4,115 m) remains among the longest commercial runways in the United States, and it is still used by military training crews today. During the mid-1970s, the airport was also used for jet training by Lufthansa German Airlines. In 1976, the airport changed its name to Amarillo International Airport upon the opening of a U.S. Customs facility.
Southwest Airlines initiated service to Amarillo in 1978 with non-stop service to Dallas-Love Field. Southwest would eventually add non-stop service to Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Denver.
The original English Field terminal building was converted in 1997 to a museum maintained by the Texas Aviation Historical Society. The name of the original airfield is memorialized in the English Fieldhouse, a local restaurant located adjacent to the general aviation terminal.
In 2003, the airport terminal building was rededicated to NASA astronaut Rick Husband, the commander of mission STS-107 of the Space Shuttle Columbia and an Amarillo native. Husband and his crew were all killed when the Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry on February 1, 2003.
The terminal building underwent a $52.2 million renovation that was designed by the firms Reynolds, Smith & Hills and Shiver Megert and Associates and completed in 2011.
Read more about this topic: Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport
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