Regional Airports

November 20, 2008

You may Listen or download this story in .mp3 format. or as a .wav file

Profile America — Thursday, November 20th. Many people in the U.S. had not yet seen an airplane when the first municipal airport in the country opened on this date in 1919 in Tucson, Arizona. A few years later, the airport moved to a larger parcel of land, now Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. A new civil airport was built in 1948, which still serves the Tucson area. Like many other such facilities, its future is uncertain in a time of airline cutbacks. Across the country, there are nearly 20,000 airports. Of these, more than 14,000 are private facilities and about 5,300 are publicly owned. But only 575 airports are certified to handle large commercial aircraft. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: 440 International Calendar of Events
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2008, t. 1050
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2008edition.html