Du Bois Regional Airport - History

History

In the early 1950s, the City of DuBois created a Municipal Airport Authority which looked into means of expanding the existing DuBois City Airport, in the Oklahoma section, east of the city. They determined that site was unsuitable for further expansion, and joined with Jefferson County officials to procure the present site, 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of DuBois. Construction was completed and the first flight was made on June 1, 1960 by Allegheny Airlines. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, radio navigational aids were added, including a non-directional beacon (DU), and finally a full Instrument Landing System (ILS) for runway 25 (IDUJ).

Brockway Glass Corporation, headquartered in nearby Brockway, Pennsylvania, constructed a corporate hangar on the apron to house their corporate aircraft (and later a commuter airline service), and Fixed Base Operator Beechwoods Flying Service constructed general aviation "T hangars", fuel pumps and maintenance hangars. The FAA opened a Flight Service Station in 1963 to provide weather observation and aviation advisory services to pilots in the region, which is noted for rapidly changing and severe weather. In the 1970s, the FAA also located a regional radio navigational maintenance facility on the field.

In 1988, Brockway Glass was taken over by Owens-Illinois, and its assets were liquidated, including the Crown Airways commuter airline. The Flight Service Station was closed in 1990 during FSS consolidation, and its functions were assumed by the Altoona FSS.

Since 1991, the airport complex has continued to expand and renovate its facilities, grounds, and infrastructure. Since 2001 it has been designated a Foreign Trade Zone. State route PA-830 has been relocated to a new access road, and dedicated as the "Bud Scherer Memorial Highway" to honor the memory of longtime Airport Manager Francis "Bud" Scherer. It carries traffic from U.S. Interstate 80 and the borough of Falls Creek.