Arizona

I have identified 56 airports in the state of Arizona that have received scheduled air service at some point in time. 7 of these airports receive regularly scheduled air service today, Grand Canyon and Grand Canyon West are regular tour operator stops, Bullhead City/Laughlin receives regular charter flights, Davis Monthan Air Force Base was Tucson's pre-World War II municipal airport, 15 are abandoned and the remainder handle mostly general aviation and occasional charter traffic.

Douglas, Arizona (1 of 2) ✈

Douglas International Airport; Douglas-Agua Prieta International Airport; Douglas Municipal Airport

31°20.7'N 109°30.6'W 2.5 miles East

Elevation: 4,180 feet IATA Code: DGL

Current: Public, General Aviation Airport

Active Service: 1929-1942, 1982-1985/1986

Largest Scheduled Aircraft: Douglas DC-3

The Douglas Municipal Airport opened as Douglas International Airport in 1929 and remained the principal airport serving the region through World War II. Standard Air Lines, which soon became part of Western Air Express before being sold to American Airways in late 1930, operated the first scheduled passenger flight on February 4, 1929. Continuous air service remained for the next 13 years until American was required to suspend Douglas as a stop on its Dallas to Los Angeles route due to mandatory War time cutbacks. With the much larger Bisbee-Douglas International Airport built during the War, Douglas Municipal would be relegated to general aviation status.

Since that time, the airport has received scheduled air taxi service on two occasions. The first was in 1963 when Apache Airlines served the airport for 15 months before switching its service to Bisbee-Douglas International. Twenty years later, Sierra Vista Aviation operated multi-stop scheduled on-demand flights to Tucson and Phoenix before it too consolidated service at Bisbee-Douglas International.

Douglas Municipal Airport has two unique distinctions in the history of U.S. aviation. It was the first and until 2015 when the Tijuana Cross-Border Terminal opened (also known as the Cross Border Xpress (CBX) and Puerta de las Californias), the only airport in the United States to be physically connected to an airport in a foreign country. The airport was originally constructed jointly with Agua Prieta, Douglas’ sister city in Sonora, Mexico. Early air travel between the United States and Mexico required planes to clear customs for both entry and exit of their respective countries. In other border cities, one would have to fly the short distance from one country to the corresponding airport in the other country clearing customs at both. At Douglas International, planes could land in one country, clear customs, pull back a wide gate on the border fence, taxi through to the other country, clear customs and resume the flight to their destination. In effect, the combined airports had a two-mile-long runway which was oriented northeast-southwest, allowing for more than 4,000 feet of runway distance in either country.

The second distinction occurred in late 1931 following the completion of extensive improvements including a new administration building and a large hangar, both of which stand to this day. At that time, Douglas, with a population of under 10,000 residents, became the smallest city to have an airport receive an A1A rating, the highest possible issued by the Secretary of Commerce.

Agua Prieta Airport briefly had its own scheduled air service when Aeronaves De Mexico began Douglas DC-3 flights to Mexico City on June 3, 1949. The thrice-weekly service via intermediate stops proved uneconomical and ended just seven months later. The Agua Prieta Airport never had paved runways, but remained in operation until 1993 when it was replaced by a new airport located 6 miles southwest of the city and soon after, the former airport was re-developed where no trace of it remains.

Today at Douglas Municipal Airport, the 1931 hangar and both the 1931 and 1936 administration buildings still stand. The hangar is located at the back of the main parking lot. The former 1936 administration building was built in the southwest adobe style and later served as an office and lounge for various fixed base operators at the airport, but is unoccupied today. It is located between East 10th Street and West Airport Road, immediately south of the current airport beacon. Sixty feet south is the 1931 administration building, of brick construction. This was converted into a residence for the airport manager. The southern end of the main northeast-southwest runway is now 800 feet from the Mexican border.

Air Service Chronology – Douglas Municipal Airport

Standard/Western/American 2/4/1929 – c. 6/1/1942

Standard Air Lines 2/4/1929 start

Purchased by Western Air Express c. April 1930

Sold to American Airways 10/15/1930

Renamed American Airlines 1934

Century Pacific Lines 2/1/1932 – 4/2/1932

Acquired by American Airways April, 1932

Aeronaves De Mexico 6/3/1949 – 1/15/1950

Operated through the Agua Prieta part of the airport

Apache Airlines 6/1/1963 – 9/21/1964

Sierra Vista Aviation mid-1982 - late 1985/early 1986

Douglas / Bisbee, Arizona (2 of 2) ✈

Douglas Army Air Field; Bisbee-Douglas International Airport

31°27.4'N 109°35.9'W   8.5 miles North Northwest

Elevation: 4,150 feet     IATA Code: DUG

Current: Public, General Aviation Airport

Active Service: 1945-1975, 1980-c. 1989

Largest Scheduled Aircraft: Douglas DC-6

Today’s Bisbee-Douglas International Airport was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and opened in the latter part of 1942 as the Douglas Army Air Field (Douglas AAF). Following authorization to use the field, American Airlines resumed service to Douglas on October 2, 1945. Initially, a portion of a barracks-type structure located at the northeast end of the main ramp was adapted for airline use including an operations office, ticket counter and waiting room. In 1949, the War Assets Administration deeded the airport to Cochise County and soon after, the base administration building was remodeled to serve as the new airline terminal. It included offices for airport and airline administration, a passenger lobby, restaurant, rest rooms, and a Flight Service Station. The terminal building remains in use today, for the most part, in its 1950s vintage configuration.

Douglas’ primary air carrier was American Airlines which served the airport for over 18 years, utilizing the 4 engine Douglas DC-6 for the bulk of the time. From 1950 to 1953, local service airline Frontier Airlines also served Douglas in parallel with American. It operated a route from Douglas to Phoenix via Nogales and Tucson, but its temporary authorization was not renewed. American averaged between 6 and 8 enplaned passengers per day at Douglas which was adequate through the 1950s, but no longer fit in with its plans of converting to an all-jet fleet, so starting in the early 1960s, it sought to terminate service. In mid-1964, the CAB finally agreed to a plan where Apache Airlines would replace American at Douglas, but American was still obligated to ensure the city received air service and if Apache abandoned the route, American would be required to find a new carrier or restart service even if that meant servicing the city with Boeing 727 jets. Apache served Douglas for 7 years, first with Twin Beech equipment then later upgrading to 10 passenger De Havilland Doves and 16 passenger 4-engine De Havilland Hurons. Following a fatal crash in 1971, Apache suspended all operation and filed for bankruptcy. American was still on the hook for providing service so outsourced to Cochise Airlines. American was finally relieved of its obligation to ensure service to Douglas in October 1974 and unable to sustain operations without subsidy, Cochise discontinued its flights in March of 1975. A couple of other small airlines followed on and off, but the glory days for Douglas and commercial aviation service were over and the airport has not had scheduled commercial flights since the late 1980s.

Air Service Chronology – Douglas International

American Airlines 10/2/1945 – 9/21/1964

Frontier Airlines 6/1/1950 – 4/17/1953

Apache Airlines 9/22/1964 – c. 5/7/1971

Authorized replacement for American Airlines

Valley Airlines 5/1/1968 – 6/15/1968

Cochise Airlines 10/20/1971 – 3/7/1975

Authorized replacement for American Airlines

Chandler Flyers Airlines early 1979 – early 1980

Copper State Airlines early 1980 – early 1982

Sierra Vista Aviation late 1985/early 1986 – 1988