Waco Regional Airport

Waco Regional Airport is five miles northwest of Waco, in McLennan County, Texas. It is owned by the City of Waco.The airport is a 20-25 minute drive to downtown Waco and the Baylor University campus.FacilitiesWaco Regional Airport covers 1,369acre and has two asphalt runways: 1/19 is 6,596 x 150 ft (2,010 x 46 m) and 14/32 is 5,896 x 150 ft (1,797 x 46 m).In 2006 the airport had 36,011 aircraft operations, average 98 per day: 65% general aviation, 27% air taxi, 8% military and 1% airline. 100 aircraft are based at the airport: 53% single-engine, 38% multi-engine, 6% jet and 3% helicopter.The airport is planning an expansion: three jetways and a larger lobby area and holding room. There is no wireless access; it is planned in the expansion.HistoryWaco Regional Airport's history begins in 1941 when some grazing farmland for livestock was chosen for the site of the new Waco Municipal Airport. Construction was begun in the late summer of 1941, just prior to the United States' entry into World War II.In early 1942 the War Department leased the site and it was provided to the United States Army Air Forces for a training airfield. At the time, construction consisted of three runways partially completed. The Army Air Force brought in construction crews and began to rush the project to completion and changed the civil building plans to that of a military airfield and ground station. Barracks, mess halls, a hospital, church, theater, administrative buildings, aircraft hangars and a control tower were built. The facility was initially named China Springs Army Air Field and later Waco Army Air Field No. 2 before being renamed Blackland Army Airfield after the local black soil.