The airport opened as the W. W. Howes Municipal Airport, in 1937, named in honor of William Washington Howes, First Assistant Postmaster General under Franklin Roosevelt. Howes brought airmail service to the Midwest. The airport hangar pictured, below, was named the W. W. Howes hangar in 1998 due to the efforts of Howes' grandson, Dr. Whiting Wicker. The current terminal was opened in 1979
Past airline service
, which was a major air carrier based in Los Angeles, served Huron for a number of years. In 1948, Western was operating Douglas DC-3 flights from the airport on a multi-stop route between Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul. By 1956, Huron was a stop on a daily round trip flight operated by the airline between Los Angeles and Minneapolis/St. Paul flown with a Convair 240 prop aircraft on a routing of Los Angeles - Las Vegas - Salt Lake City - Casper - Rapid City - Pierre - Huron - Minneapolis/St. Paul. In 1964, Western was operating Douglas DC-6B four engine propliners into the airport on a daily round trip multi-stop flight between Salt Lake City and Minneapolis/St. Paul with a routing of Salt Lake City - Casper - Rapid City - Pierre - Huron - Sioux Falls - Minneapolis/St. Paul. Western ceased serving Huron during the mid-1960s but continued to serve Pierre and Sioux Falls with Boeing 737-200 jet service into the 1980s before being acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in 1987. Braniff International Airways, a major airline based in Dallas, served Huron during the 1950s. According to the April 27, 1958, Braniff system timetable, the airline was operating Douglas DC-3 service on a daily round trip routings of Kansas City - Lincoln - Omaha - Sioux City - Sioux Falls - Mitchell, SD - Huron - Watertown, SD - Minneapolis/St. Paul and also Minot - Bismarck - Aberdeen, SD - Huron - Watertown, SD - Minneapolis/St. Paul. The airline had ceased serving Huron by the fall of 1959. Braniff continued to serve both Sioux City and Sioux Falls and by 1966 had introduced jet service to both of these cities with British Aircraft CorporationBAC One-Eleven twin jets. In 1960, North Central Airlines was operating Douglas DC-3 service on direct, no change of plane flights from Huron to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Omaha, Sioux Falls and Minot via intermediate stops at other regional destinations. By 1965, North Central was serving Huron with Convair 440 propliners as well as with DC-3 aircraft and by 1967 the airline was operating Convair 580 turboprop airliners into the airport. In 1972, North Central was operating all of its flights from Huron with Convair 580 propjets with direct, no change of plane service to Chicago O'Hare Airport, Omaha, Sioux Falls, Minot and Rochester, MN. The same year, North Central was operating McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jet service to Pierre and Sioux Falls but did not operate jet flights into Huron. In 1979, North Central merged with Southern Airways to form Republic Airlines which in turn continued to serve Huron with Convair 580 flights. However, by 1982, Republic had discontinued all service into the airport. Republic was then acquired by and merged into Northwest Airlines in 1986. In 1981, Northern Airlines, a commuter air carrier, was serving Huron with flights to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Pierre and other regional destinations. By the mid 1990s, United Express operated by Great Lakes Aviation via a code sharing agreement on behalf of United Airlines was flying Beechcraft 1900C commuter turboprops with service from Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pierre and Brookings, SD.
Facilities and aircraft
Huron Regional Airport covers 1,235 acres at an elevation of 1,289 feet above mean sea level. It has two concrete runways: 12/30 is 7,201 by 100 feet and 17/35 is 5,000 by 75 feet. In 2010, the airport had 13,452 aircraft operations, averaging 36 per day. Of these, 89% were general aviation, 9% scheduled commercial and 2% military. 27 aircraft were then based at this airport, 82% single-engine, 11% multi-engine and 7% helicopters.
