Groundbreaking for Reid–Hillview airport came in 1937. Bob and Cecil Reid built the Garden City Airport in 1935, which was quickly closed to make room for
U.S. Route 101. Their second site was northwest of the Hillview golf course, hence the name. Until 1946, the single runway was unpaved. Reid–Hillview was a single runway airport until 1965, when a second runway was added. The control tower opened in October 1967. The airport was the origin for an emergency supply airlift to the
Watsonville Municipal Airport following the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, after mountain and coastal roads were blocked, cutting off
Santa Cruz and
Watsonville from relief efforts by ground. The Watsonville Airport estimates that it received of supplies via the airlift during the week following the quake. John McAvoy and Bill Dunn of the Reid–Hillview Airport Association received the 1990 Grand Award from the
Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission for organizing the airlift. The airport continues to be used in emergency operations, including during the
SCU Lightning Complex fires in 2020. Santa Clara County published an over 120-page master plan proposing improvements and expansions at Reid–Hillview. In the mid-2000s, the county announced they would demolish the second story of the airport terminal to make room for new offices for airport administration. They failed to follow up on this plan, and the second story has been sitting idle ever since. In the document, the county also planned on adding small expansions to the runway to allow turboprops and small business jets to land. Although turboprops and small business jets still land in the current runway, this minor expansion will allow a larger flow of these types of aircraft to land. aviation department at Reid Hillview Airport in 2010, with the department's retired
Boeing 727. In 2010,
San Jose State University's aviation program relocated to Reid–Hillview. The university operates out of the Swift Building, where it holds classes during the academic year. In 2018, the
Board of Supervisors voted to study consolidating general aviation at
San Martin Airport. On December 4, 2018, and again the following year, the board voted against accepting additional
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding that would have been contingent on Reid–Hillview's continued operation through 2051. Previously accepted grants require the county to keep the airport open through 2031. In November 2020, it voted to begin the process of closing the airport in 2031 and redeveloping the land. :This East San Jose neighborhood will be a place of empowerment built on our culture, diversity and history, and sustained by education, well-being, and economic opportunity for the community. In August 2021, Santa Clara County released a study that found elevated blood lead levels in children living near the airport. On August 16, 2021, airport officials responded to the study by announcing that fixed base operators would switch to unleaded aviation fuel. After which Santa Clara County's supervisor, Cindy Chavez, testified at the
United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Environment in opposition of the national use of leaded aviation fuel. The hearing resulted in the committee committing to declaring leaded aviation fuel a health hazard by 2023. On August 18, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to close the airport as soon as the FAA approves of its closure, which would be no sooner than January 1, 2022, and mandate the use of unleaded fuel as soon as possible. The board also voted against funding an expansion of San Martin Airport, raising concerns that general aviation traffic would be diverted to
San Jose International Airport, which is also capacity-constrained and surrounded by urban development, including the low-income, minority
Washington-Guadalupe and
Alviso neighborhoods. == Environmental impact ==