Columbia Regional Airport

Columbia Regional Airport (ICAO: KCOU, IATA: COU) is a public airport located in Boone County, Missouri, 12 miles southwest of Columbia. Columbia Regional Airport is a commercial service airport and is the only commercial airport in Min-Missouri. Columbia Regional Airport serves Mid-Missouri, Columbia, and it also distributes the state capital of Jefferson City. Columbia Regional Airport opened in 1968 and replaced Columbia Municipal Airport. Columbia Regional Airport is most frequently used for charter flights by college teams visiting Columbia University.

Columbia Regional Airport

Basic Information

Columbia Regional Airport (ICAO: KCOU, IATA: COU) is a public airport located in Boone County, Missouri, 12 miles southwest of Columbia. Columbia Regional Airport is a commercial service airport and is the only commercial airport in Min-Missouri. Columbia Regional Airport serves Mid-Missouri, Columbia, and it also distributes the state capital of Jefferson City. Columbia Regional Airport opened in 1968 and replaced Columbia Municipal Airport. Columbia Regional Airport is most frequently used for charter flights by college teams visiting Columbia University.

The owner of COU airport is the City of Columbia.

Capacity

The Columbia Regional Airport covers 1,538 acres of land at an elevation of 889 feet. COU has two runways: the runway 2/20 is 6,501 by 150 feet, runway 13/31 is 5,500 by 100 feet.

In 2010, Columbia Regional Airport had 25,717 aircraft operations, an average of 70 transactions per day. COU airport accommodates corporate flying, flight training, air cargo, and recreational flying. The Columbia Regional Airport is used for both general aviation and commercial service purposes. For the last 25 years, COU airport has been home of the annual salute to Veterans airshow and attacking roughly 50,000 visitors during the weekend of Memorial Day.

Columbia Regional airport also supports activities such as rescue training and operations, real estate tours, aerial inspections, aerial photography. COU airport is home to several aviation businesses, several government institutions such as FAA Airways Facilities support center, US post office, and TSA are located at the airport.

Currently, two Airlines serve COU regional airports. Serving airlines include American Eagle and United Express. American Eagle offers daily non-stop flights to Chicago and Dallas for visitors and residents, providing access to the fourth and the second busiest airport hubs. United Airlines offers direct service to Chicago O'Hare and Denver international airport. Both airlines serve hundreds of destinations. The economic impact is accounted for in various ways. Columbia Regional Airport has over 745 total job opportunities, total payroll $26, 925,00, and overall output $87, 179,000.

History

The Columbia Municipal Airport was founded in 1928, at the western edge of Columbia. The airport land was leased from the Alton Brothers. They had a flying service there previously. The Port was known as the Alton Hotel. Later, with the Civil administration, assistance improvements were made. In 1960, COU airport covered 470 acres.

In 1963, the Federal Aviation Agency paid part of the cost of buying the COU airport site.

The city obtained 183 acres for the airport site in 1966.

Officially construction of the COU airport began in1967. The dedication of the COU main 6500 feet runway was in 1968, and the new Columbia Regional Airport opened in 1968, on November 2.