The Cavern City Air Terminal

THE CAVERN CITY AIR TERMINAL WE WELCOME EVERYONE T he Cavern CityAir Terminal is a public use air- port in Eddy County,NewMexico. It is owned by the City of Carlsbad and located sixmiles southwest of its central business district.The Airport covers an area of 1,980 acres and has four runways with asphalt surfaces. It is served by one commercial airline, Boutique Air,with scheduled passenger ser- vice subsidized by the Essential Air Service program, a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States,which, before deregulation,were served by certificated airlines,maintain commercial service.The Airport is also supported by gross tax receipts from the City of Carlsbad. “The Airport originated in 1940,with Continental Airlines,which was the first commercial airline to serve Carlsbad with flights to El Paso and Denver,” says Airport Manager, Sherri Chandler.“They also had stops at Albuquerque and several other cities. They flew Lockheed Model 10 Electra’s and Lock- heed Lodestar’s followed by the Douglas DC-3.” In 1942, the Airport was activated by the United States ArmyAir Corps as Carlsbad ArmyAirfield. “During that time, they trained bombardiers and it was here that the Norden Bombsight was used.This was a highly technical piece of equipment that they kept under guard so that nobody would steal it,” Chandler explains.“It was a top secret device that AT A GLANCE THE CAVERN CITY AIR TERMINAL WHAT: A public use airport WHERE: Eddy County, New Mexico WEBSITE: whttp://www.cityofcarlsbadnm.com/ airport.cfm