In January 1928, of land, along what was then called
Burkburnett Road, was purchased from J.A. Kemp in order to build Wichita Falls' first-ever airport. Construction of airplane hangars began later than month, designed by Charles Reid of the engineering firm of Reid and Costley. C.W. Calhoun was the first
president of the Wichita Falls Airport Corporation. The airport opened on July 4, 1928. Two U.S. Army airplanes from
Brooks Air Force Base in
San Antonio were the first airplanes to land at the airport. Commercial air service was moved from Kell Field to
Sheppard Air Force Base in 1955.
Braniff Airways first provided service to Wichita Falls Municipal Airport beginning on November 13, 1930. Service continued on an Amarillo-Wichita Falls-Dallas route until 1969 when Braniff was allowed to discontinue its service by the Civil Aeronautics Board. The
Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) approved its request to discontinue service because Braniff International, in 1966, had begun operating the route with its new
British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven "Fastback" twin jets, which seated twice as many passengers as the previous piston-powered
Convair 340 and
Convair 440 prop aircraft, which had been operating the route. As a result, load factors were not sufficient to continue the service and Braniff discontinued its flights into Wichita Falls on May 7, 1969.
Continental Airlines served Wichita Falls Municipal Airport from 1946 until 1977. The carrier had begun a new route between El Paso and Tulsa stopping at many points including Midland/Odessa, Lubbock, Lawton, and Oklahoma City. In 1977 Continental Airlines asked the
Civil Aeronautics Board to approve its request to end its
Boeing 727-200 jet service at the airport and have Metro Airlines serve the airport instead. After originally disapproving the request, the Civil Aeronautics Board approved the change. Metro Airlines started serving Wichita Falls on October 30, 1977, with flights serving Lawton, Oklahoma City, and
Tulsa. By 1979, Metro Airlines had flights to
Dallas–Fort Worth Regional Airport and
Houston Intercontinental Airport.
Texas International Airlines began jet service into the airport in 1968 with seven flights a day all operated with
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 jetliners. Service consisted of five nonstop flights every weekday to Dallas/Fort Worth plus two daily nonstops to Amarillo, three direct one stop flights to Houston and one daily direct one stop flight to Denver as well as direct no change of plane service to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Harlingen, McAllen and Monterrey, Mexico.
Rio Airways started service to Wichita Falls in 1971. After signing an agreement with
Delta Air Lines in 1984, its flights were branded
Delta Connection. Metro Airlines service between Wichita Falls and Dallas was rebranded as
American Eagle starting in 1985.
Texas Star Airlines began providing service from Wichita Falls and
Dallas Love Field,
Austin,
Fort Worth Meacham Airport, and
Brownsville in 1981. Two years later, it discontinued all service at Wichita Falls, saying the service was no longer worthwhile with one or two passengers on average on each flight.
Air Spirit Airlines also served Wichita Falls for a few months before it went out of business in 1985.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines began serving Wichita Falls, branded as
Delta Connection, in 1986, with flights to Dallas–Fort Worth. Atlantic Southeast Airlines ended these flights in 2001 due to a lack of profitability. This left American Airlines as the only carrier offering scheduled commercial service to Wichita Falls. ==Facilities==