page_title: John Wayne Airport
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: John Wayne Airport / History
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context_page_description: John Wayne Airport is a commercial and general aviation airport that serves Orange County, California, and the Greater Los Angeles area. The airport is located in an unincorporated area of Orange County, and it is owned and operated by the county. John Wayne Airport is surrounded by the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa, although its IATA airport code and mailing address are both registered to Santa Ana, the county seat. Originally named Orange County Airport, the Orange County Board of Supervisors renamed the airport in 1979 in honor of actor John Wayne, who lived in neighboring Newport Beach and died that year. A statue of John Wayne was installed at the airline terminal in 1982.
  John Wayne Airport is the sole commercial airport in Orange County. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport since it has over 10,000 passenger boardings per year. Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 4,584,147 enplanements in calendar year 2014, an increase from 4,450,628 in 2013.
context_section_description: The first airstrip on the grounds was constructed in 1923, when Eddie Martin signed a five-year lease with James Irvine to operate a flying school on land owned by the Irvine Company. It was purchased through a land swap by the County of Orange in 1939 and remains under the county's ownership and management.
  Martin added the first hangar in 1926. In 1935 Howard Hughes staged his world speed record-setting flight from the Eddie Martin Airport.
  With the opening of the Santa Ana Army Air Base in 1942, the adjacent Martin Field was temporarily closed.
  After serving as a military base during World War II, the Santa Ana Army Airfield was returned by the federal government to the County with the stipulation that it remain open to all kinds of aviation uses.
  In addition to continuing to serve aviation, the field became an important drag racing center. From 1950 to 1959, C.J. "Pappy" Hart and Creighton Hunter operated the Santa Ana Drag Strip, credited for being the world's first commercial drag strip, on the airport runway every Sunday, when it was closed to air traffic.
  The original single runway was 4,800 feet (1,500 m) long, on a magnetic heading of 210 degrees (Runway 21) and 30 degrees (Runway 3). In 1964 the airport was rebuilt, with its present two parallel runway configuration, oriented 190/10 degrees magnetic. The longer runway, 19R (now 20R), at 5,701 feet (1,738 m), is only 901 feet (275 m) longer than the old Runway 21 but long enough to accommodate jet airliners. A full instrument landing system (ILS) was also installed.
  In the 1950s, the only airline flights were Bonanza's few flights between Los Angeles and Phoenix, via San Diego. In 1963 Bonanza started nonstop F27s to Phoenix, and to Las Vegas in 1965; in 1967 Air California started Electra nonstops to San Francisco, 48 flights a week each way. The first scheduled jet flights were Bonanza DC-9s later in 1967.
  In 1967, the 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m²) Eddie Martin Terminal was built to accommodate 400,000 annual passengers. Remodeling added two passenger holding areas in 1974, a new baggage claim area in 1980 and a terminal annex building in 1982, bringing the facility to 29,000 square feet (2,700 m²).
  Nonstop flights reached Salt Lake City in 1976–77 (Hughes DC9s), Denver in 1982 (Frontier MD80s), Dallas/Fort Worth in 1983 (American MD80s), Chicago in 1986 (AirCal 737-300s), and New York Kennedy in 1991 (America West 757s).
  After the Orange County Airport was renamed John Wayne Airport on June 20, 1979, the John Wayne Associates commissioned sculptor Robert Summers to create a bronze statue of "the Duke." The 9-foot (2.7 m) statue, created at Hoka Hey Foundry in Dublin, Texas, was dedicated to the County on November 4, 1982. Today, the bronze statue is in the Thomas F. Riley Terminal on the Arrival Level.
  In 1990, the Thomas F. Riley Terminal opened. The aging 29,000-square-foot (2,700 m²) Eddie Martin Terminal was replaced with a modern 337,900-square-foot (31,390 m²) facility. The new facility included 14 loading bridges, four baggage carousels, wide open spaces and distinct roadside arrival and departure levels. In 1994, the then-unused Eddie Martin Terminal was demolished.
  In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a new, larger airport was proposed for the nearby site of the then recently closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. However, after a series of political battles, combined with significant opposition from residents in the vicinity of El Toro, the proposal was defeated, and no new airport was built.
  In 2011, additional terminal space was added and existing terminals were refreshed as part of a $543 million expansion project. A new Terminal C with six additional gates was built along with dedicated commuter gate areas in the new Terminal C and new commuter facilities in Terminal A. A new parking lot C was added along with additional support facilities such as a Central Utility plant.
  In June 2020, a name change was requested, due to comments the actor made believed to be in support of white supremacy to Playboy in a 1971 interview.
caption: Terminal groundbreaking, October 1988
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