Until 2001 Trans World Express Jetstream 41s flew to St. Louis. After Trans World merged with American, American Connection Jetstream 41s flew to St. Louis until 2006. US Airways Express Beechcraft 1900s replaced American Connection, flying to Kansas City and St. Louis. Service to St. Louis was later dropped in favor of additional frequencies to Kansas City. In 2008 Northwest Airlink replaced US Airways Express, flying Saab 340s to Memphis. Later that year Northwest Airlines merged with Delta Air Lines. Delta Connection switched service from Mesaba Airlines to Pinnacle Airlines CRJ-200s in 2010. In June 2012 ExpressJet Airlines replaced Pinnacle Airlines as the Delta Connection carrier at Columbia and service to Atlanta began; in October 2012 service to Memphis was dropped. ExpressJet CRJ-200s flew to Atlanta and Memphis. Delta pulled out of Columbia Regional Airport on February 13, 2013. In August 2012 Frontier Airlines announced plans for twice weekly flights from Columbia to Orlando. In November 2012, Frontier started twice weekly flights to Orlando using Airbus A319 aircraft. Frontier ended service to Orlando on May 13, 2013. On October 22, 2012, it was announced by then-Columbia mayor Bob McDavid that American Airlines and the City of Columbia reached an agreement that was approved by the Columbia City Council for air service from Columbia to Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth and service to those two cities began in February 2013. The 2013 Federal sequester resulted in a planned closure of the airport's contract control tower. The plan was postponed and later canceled. On February 27, 2017, Columbia and United Airlines officials announced that starting August 1, 2017, there would be one daily flight to Denver and two daily flights to Chicago O'Hare. The new service lines added an additional 150 seats per day for a total 417 seats per day from Columbia. In April 2019, United Airlines added an additional flight to and from Chicago O'Hare for a total of 3 flights each direction. American Airlines followed suit adding two additional flights to Chicago-O'Hare for a total of 4 in each direction. In total, COU now has seven flights a day to and from Chicago-O'Hare, three a day to and from Dallas-Fort Worth, and one a day to and from Denver. All are operated on 50-76 seat regional jets. On April 18, 2019, at a coffee round-table discussing the new terminal master plan, future destinations, and parking at the airport, it was revealed the airport hopes to add an additional 200 parking spots as well as have a design for the new terminal by the end of the year. Passengers expressed interest in adding Atlanta, Charlotte, and Las Vegas to the airport's growing list of destinations. As for the new terminal, preliminary sketches uploaded to the airport's website call for adding two more gates with jet bridges built just to the south of the existing terminal. The new terminal is slated to begin construction in 2020 or 2021 with the grand opening in 2022.
Facilities
The airport covers 1,538 acres at an elevation of 889 feet. It has two runways: 2/20 is 6,501 by 150 feet concrete; 13/31 is 5,500 by 100 feet asphalt. In 2010 the airport had 25,717 aircraft operations, average 70 per day: 79% general aviation, 10% military, 9% airline, and 2% air taxi. 41 aircraft were then based at the airport: 44% single-engine, 24% multi-engine, 27% jet, and 5% helicopter. In calendar year 2017, the airport had 88,650 enplanements, a 36.36% increase from 65,014 in 2016 and ranked as #243 out of 555 on the list of FAA airports with the most enplanements.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Destinations map
Accidents and incidents
On January 11, 2019, American Eagle Flight 5766, en route from Dallas-Fort Worth, slid off the runway after landing in icy and snowy conditions. The Bombardier CRJ-900, operated byMesa Airlines, was the first flight to attempt to land at the airport after the ground crew cleared the runway of ice and snow. Reports state the runway was still very slick with ice.
