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John Wayne Airport history
John Wayne Airport company history timeline
In 1923, Martin founded a flying school and Martin Aviation, one of the nation’s oldest aviation firms.
The first airstrip on the grounds was constructed in 1923, when Eddie Martin signed a five-year lease with James Irvine to operate a flying school on land owned by the Irvine Company.
It was all the way back in 1925 that Orange County began acquiring property for its first county airport.
Martin added the first hangar in 1926.
(Santa Ana Register, April 9, 1928)
A few weeks later, on April 7, 1928, the Board of Supervisors dedicated the original Orange County Airport.
They cut a deal with James Irvine to buy 40 acres a year for four years (that first 40 acres, by the way, cost them $14,000). So it was not until early 1928 that they had the 160 acres they needed.
In 1935 Howard Hughes staged his world speed record-setting flight from the Eddie Martin Airport.
It was purchased through a land swap by the County of Orange in 1939 and remains under the county's ownership and management.
The second Orange County Airport opened for business on August 15, 1941.
Construction began early in 1941 on the first two runways, an administration building and control tower, and a hangar.
With the opening of the Santa Ana Army Air Base in 1942, the adjacent Martin Field was temporarily closed.
The Orange County Airport was finally returned to the county in 1946.
Orange County Airport, circa 1948 (courtesy the Orange County Archives)
The original single runway was 4,800 feet (1,500 m) long, on a magnetic heading of 210 degrees (Runway 21) and 30 degrees (Runway 3). In 1964 the airport was rebuilt, with its present two parallel runway configuration, oriented 190/10 degrees magnetic.
The first scheduled jet flights were Bonanza DC-9s later in 1967.
In 1967, the 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m) Eddie Martin Terminal was built to accommodate 400,000 annual passengers.
In 1979, the Board of Supervisors for the County of Orange renamed Orange County Airport to John Wayne Airport, Orange County, in memory of the late movie star and Newport Beach resident.
The limits at JWA, set the 1985 settlement agreement referenced above, were “grandfathered” under the new act and remained in place.
The next decade began with Congress passing the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990.
In 1990, the Thomas F. Riley Terminal opened.
In 1994, the then-unused Eddie Martin Terminal was demolished.
Construction of the new Terminal C and its parking structure began in 2009.
Also in 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented an RNAV departure procedure at JWA for certain flights.
In 2011, additional terminal space was added and existing terminals were refreshed as part of a $543 million expansion project.
The JWA Settlement Agreement was again amended (the 9th Supplemental Stipulation) and extended by the four original signatories in 2014.
The FAA introduced its Southern California Metroplex Project, part of its Next Generation Air Transportation Program (NextGen), locally in 2015 with the circulation of a draft Environmental Assessment for the Metroplex Project.
The FAA began to implement NextGen at JWA in 2017 and again, residents were impacted by changes to the departure paths.
As of mid-2018, JWA handles more than 10.5 million annual passengers and approximately 126 commercial flights (this excludes General Aviation flights) per day.
Thanks to our friends at the Costa Mesa Historical Society for sharing this wonderful 2018 presentation by Jeffery Roundtree on the history of the airport.
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John Wayne Airport competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego International Airport | 2003 | $56.7M | 750 | 8 |
| San Francisco International Airport | 1927 | $3.2M | 20 | - |
| San Jose International Airport | - | $8.5M | 180 | - |
| Denver International Airport | - | $32.0M | 620 | - |
| Dallas Fort Worth International Airport | 1974 | $745.6M | 8 | - |
| Stagecoach Cartage and Distribution | 1986 | $58.3M | 31 | 18 |
| Cleveland Hopkins International Airport | - | $4.4M | 28 | 4 |
| Stone Mountain Park | - | $54.0M | 750 | - |
| CommutAir | 1989 | $340.0M | 1,300 | 5 |
| Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport | 1935 | $3.8M | 125 | - |
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