![]() ![]() Support local journalism like this story by subscribing today. You can connect with Arizona Republic consumer travel reporter Melissa Yeager through email at You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram. In 2019, the airport welcomed just shy of 1.8 million passengers. Though the pandemic presented some headwinds, a record number of passengers passed through Mesa Gateway in June 2021, fueling optimism that the airport will continue to grow as a vital entry point for commercial air traffic for years to come. destinations and its portfolio of airlines includes Allegiant, Avelo Airlines, Flair Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, Swoop and WestJet. Today, the airport serves more than 50 U.S. Allegiant originally served 13 destinations from Gateway and had 237,039 passengers there in its first year.īy 2010, the airport passed another milestone: Allegiant had transported its millionth passenger through Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. In late 2007, the airport finally inked a deal with Las Vegas-based low-cost carrier Allegiant Air. It continued its mission for several more decades, but in 1991 the hammer fell. Arizona learned the base would close and the community started exploring future uses for the site. military aviation museum isn't just about planes The end of Williams Air Force BaseĪs far back as 1959, editorials in The Republic show questions swirling around how long the base would remain operational. 2 She is also the first person of Asian-American descent to hold the senior enlisted position in the Air Force. It was within commuting distance of Chandler, Gilbert, Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe for housing. She became the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, and the first female senior enlisted service member of any United States military branch, on August 14, 2020, 1 having been selected for the position on June 19, 2020.The location was near highways and the Southern Pacific Railway right of way. ![]() ![]() It had an average of 235 clear days a year.It got just 8 inches of rainfall a year.21, 1952, story about the base's 11th anniversary, The Republic reported that the area was well suited for a flight school for several reasons: By 1952, The Arizona Republic reported, 7,000 people called the base home. It grew into the foremost pilot training facility in the United States. Air Force renamed the site Williams Air Force Base. A pilot, Williams was born in Arizona and died in 1927 in an air accident off Hawaii. In February 1942, the base was named Williams Field to honor Charles Linton Williams. The early days of Williams Air Force Base Ground was broken on July 16, 1941, at what is now the intersection of Ray and Sossaman roads. Over its 52 years in operation, Williams Air Force Base in the East Valley trained more than 26,500 men and women to fly.Īfter seeing the need for a site to train pilots to support the Allied Forces during World War II, the Army Air Corps selected Mesa as the home for its advanced flying school. Before Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport grew into a thriving commercial air gateway, it lived a whole other life as one of the nation's largest training grounds for future military pilots. Many bustling metropolises have secondary airports, often referred to as reliever airports, to provide additional ways to reach a city by air. View Gallery: Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and Williams Air Force Base in photos ![]()
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