Business View Magazine | July 2019

99 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 THE CHI PPEWA VALLEY REGIONAL A I RPORT Leo McDonald, and M.A. Sine organized the Eau Claire Airplane Corporation and leased 80 acres on a bluff in the City of Eau Claire called Putnam Heights. By 1929, Eau Claire Airways was operating a full-service operation with a flight school and air taxi service to the Twin Cities, La Crosse, Wausau, Madison, and Milwaukee. It was not until 1940 that the Eau Claire Municipal Airport opened at its present site. At the time, it consisted of a simple runway surrounded by farmland and wooded area. Over the next decade, a terminal and two 4,000- foot runways were built, as well as an aircraft parking apron and hangars. Fast forward to 1979, when Eau Claire County acquired ownership of the Eau Claire Municipal Airport from the City of Eau Claire, and eventually created the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport Commission in 1991. By 1999, the operation of the Airport was entrusted to representatives of Chippewa, Dunn, and Eau Claire Counties. Today, the operation resides within an agreement between Chippewa and Eau Claire Counties. “The Airport currently has a unique governance structure,” says Zich. “Eau Claire County technically owns the Airport, but it is operated under a joint agreement with Chippewa County that created a commission which is tasked with its operation. The State of Wisconsin does not authorize airport