page_title: Hickory Regional Airport
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hickory Regional Airport / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Terminal building at the Hickory Regional Airport as seen from the parking lot.
context_page_description: Hickory Regional Airport is three miles west of Hickory, in Catawba County, North Carolina. It is owned by the City of Hickory.
context_section_description: Hickory Municipal Airport opened on May 17, 1940 with two unpaved runways, 2,700 and 3,100 feet long. Shortly thereafter, the runway later designated 6/24 was lengthened and both runways were paved. On August 2, 1941 Pennsylvania Central Airline (later Capital Airlines) brought the first airline service: one Boeing 247 flight each way between Norfolk and Knoxville. This was suspended in May, 1942.
  During the war years the Hickory Municipal Airport was a Pilot Training center for the Military. In 1947 the Civil Aeronautics Administration opened the Hickory Interstate Airways Communications Station, housed in a wooden structure on the south side of the field, at the former FBO site. As the Flight Service Station, this operation is now housed, along with a portion of the Systems Maintenance Sector, in the modern Terminal Building. The main offices for the Systems Maintenance Sector are now in the FBO office building. In May 1950 the City of Hickory contracted for the construction of a North-South Runway (runway 1/19), 4,400 feet in length. Capital Airlines resumed scheduled service in August 1951, and continued until August 1952, at which time Piedmont Airlines began to serve Hickory. Runway 6/24 has been extended twice, to its present length of 6,402 feet. A full Instrument Landing System (ILS) was installed on runway 24, and commissioned in 1977. A MALSR Approach Lighting System was also installed on this runway.
  In 1960 the base of operations was moved from the south side of the field when the new terminal building opened. In the mid-1960s, the Fixed-Base Operator, Cannon Aviation, Inc., also moved from the south side of the field, into new quarters next to the Terminal. The Fixed-Base Operation was later bought by a locally formed corporation, Carolina Airways, Inc., and since that time, the FBO has changed owners several times and two expansions have been completed.
  In early 1969 a new High Intensity Lighting system (HIRL) was installed on runway 6/24 as well as lighting on the parallel taxiway. A new taxiway, with lighting, was built parallel to runway 1/19. In the same improvements project, runway 6/24 was overlaid to increase pavement
  strength and a new 36-inch Airport Beacon was installed.
  In Fall 1973 the Federal Aviation Administration commissioned an Air Traffic Control Tower at the Hickory Airport.
caption: Current terminal built in 1960
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