Business View Magazine | January 2020

164 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JANUARY 2020 Other airlines that served Amarillo over the ensuing years include Braniff International; Central Airlines and its successor, Frontier Airlines; Continental Airlines; Trans-Texas Airways, which was, subsequently, renamed Texas International; Eastern Airlines; and Aspen Airways. Today, the Airport is served by American Airlines with service to Dallas/Ft. Worth; Southwest Airlines, with service to Dallas-Love, Houston-Hobby, and Las Vegas; and United Express, with service to Denver and Houston –Intercontinental. In 1952 the Airport changed its name to Amarillo Air Terminal and, after the adjacent Amarillo Air Force Base was deactivated in 1968, a portion of it became part of the Amarillo Air Terminal. The primary instrument runway, built for the USAF Strategic Air Command base, at 13,502 feet, is among the longest commercial runways in the United States and is still used for military training. In 1954, new terminal buildings were opened and by 1976, the Airport also became a U.S. Port of Entry, requiring yet another name change to Amarillo International Airport. In 2003, the Airport changed its name, once again, to the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport after NASA astronaut and Amarillo native, Rick Husband, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February of that year. The Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport is comprised of 3,811 acres of land. It has two concrete runways, the aforementioned Runway 4/22 at 13,502 ft. × 200 ft., and Runway 13/31 at 7,901 ft. × 150 ft. The terminal building is 217,000 square feet with seven aircraft gates. In 2011, it underwent a $52.2 million renovation. The Airport is owned by the City of Amarillo and staffed by 58 employees. Its award-winning FBO is Tac-Air. Its enplaned passengers numbered approximately 364,000 in 2018 and 367,000 in 2019. The Airport also has many home-based general aviation aircraft, and it used extensively by the military, as well. This past year, according to Aviation Director, Mike Conner, the Airport completed an entire replacement of its closed-circuit television system. “That was about $1.3 million to replace