Brownsville International Airport

    The history of Brownsville’s municipal airport began with the roar of U.S. Army biplanes shattering the quiet of a calm spring day in March 1929. While the U.S. Calvary band stationed at Fort Brown entertained a large crowd, a slew of military planes invaded the skies above two gravel runways during the dedication of the airport.

    Brownsville International Airport, complete with a terminal building with a tower, a hangar, and two dirt runways, was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by Amelia Earhart.  This replaced the drill field at Fort Brown as the most popular landing site.  Pan American Airways was the first airline to serve the airport, which offered a convenient refueling stop on flights from American cities to Latin America.  The next year, the first mail arrived, brought by Charles Lindbergh, on his route from Mexico City to New York City.

    With the opening of the airport, Brownsville took a major step toward modernization.  City officials are credited during the '20s with greatly improving Brownsville’s economic development by having the foresight to establish such entities as the airport and Brownsville Junior College, which has grown into The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College.

    The airport attracted such airlines as Pan American, Braniff, Compania Mexicana de Aviacion, Corporacion Aeronautica de Transportes, Eastern, Ozark, Texas Air Transport and Universal Airlines. Pan Am had its Western Headquarters Terminal at the airport during the '30s and '40s.

    Air traffic at the airport reached its peak during the '50s and early '60s. But when Braniff and Eastern left during the '60s, the lost a lot of traffic.  In the 1970s and 1980s, when the airport often operated without a major airline and was described as almost a ghost town except for cargo flights.

    The terminal was renovated and expanded in the year 1999 as part of a $4.3 million project. It is a step toward the ultimate goal of bringing additional air service to town.  The project doubled lobby space, added two boarding gates and the restaurant and lounge were expanded.  

    Brownsville International airport is also home to the Rio Grande Valley Wing of the Confederate Air Force, is serviced by Continental Airlines, is home to three Fixed Base Operators, one major freight service, and serves as a supplementary training airport for numerous military aircraft.