Columbia Regional Airport

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.[6]

Until 2001, Trans World Express (Trans States Airlines) Jetstream 41s 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 (Air Midwest) Beechcraft 1900s replaced American Connection, flying to Kansas City and St. Louis. Service to St. Louis was later dropped in favor of additional frequencies to Kansas City.

In 2008, Northwest Airlink (Mesaba Airlines) replaced US Airways Express, flying Saab 340s to Memphis. Later that year, Northwest Airlines merged with Delta Air Lines. Delta Connection switched service from Mesaba Airlines to Pinnacle Airlines CRJ-200s in 2010. In June 2012, ExpressJet Airlines replaced Pinnacle Airlines as the Delta Connection carrier at Columbia and service to Atlanta began; in October 2012, service to Memphis was dropped. ExpressJet CRJ-200s flew to Atlanta and Memphis. Delta pulled out of Columbia Regional Airport on February 13, 2013.

In August 2012, Frontier Airlines announced plans for twice weekly flights from Columbia to Orlando.[7] In November 2012, Frontier started twice weekly flights to Orlando using Airbus A319 aircraft. Frontier ended service to Orlando on May 13, 2013.[8]

On October 22, 2012, it was announced by then-Columbia mayor Bob McDavid that American Airlines 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 and Dallas/Fort Worth and service to those two cities began in February 2013.[9]

The 2013 Federal sequester resulted in a planned closure of the airport's contract control tower.[10][11] The plan was postponed and later canceled.[12]

On February 27, 2017, Columbia and United Airlines officials announced that starting August 1, 2017, there would be one daily flight to Denver and two daily flights to Chicago–O'Hare.[13] 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 Atlanta, Charlotte, and Las Vegas 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 grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on October 19, 2022.[14][15]

The new terminal opened on October 26, 2022 with its first full day of operations. The new terminal has additional square footage for future expansions, a new ticketing lobby, baggage claim, larger security checkpoint with room to add more lanes, larger restrooms including gender neutral/family restrooms, mothers' rooms for nursing, a sensory room, an animal relief area, room for concessionaires, and 4 new gates (including jet bridges) with charging stations.