History
Cedar Rapids' first airport was Hunter Field, a private airport established by Dan Hunter in the 1920s. It was located along Bowling Street SW north of U.S. Highway 30. The airport was originally used for private charter service, pilot training, and airmail, but it was inoperable during bad weather. This led to the need for a new airport.
The Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport was completed with military funding in 1944 but was not officially dedicated until April 27, 1947. The Cedar Rapids Parks Department operated the airport until a new Airport Commission was established in 1945; Donald Hines, who led the effort to build the airport, was the commission's director until he retired in 1973 (he died in 1975). Scheduled east-west passenger service from United Airlines began in 1947, and north-south passenger service from Ozark Airlines began in 1957. By 1969, the airport handled 31 commercial flights per day and recorded 353,000 passengers a year.
The present terminal designed by Brown, Healey, Bock Architects and Planners was dedicated in 1986 with a ceremony that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole attended. The Cedar Rapids Airport was renamed The Eastern Iowa Airport in 1997 in order to reflect its status as a regional airport. In 2000 the airport enplaned and deplaned one million passengers for the first time in its history; it set a record in 2005 with 1,004,434 passengers.
Read more about this topic: The Eastern Iowa Airport
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