Tucumcari Municipal Airport

regional Airfield

The Tucumcari Municipal Airport was built by the United States Army Air Forces and opened in August 1941 shortly before the United States entered into World War II. At the time it was know as the Fort Sumner Army Auxiliary Airfield #7, being subordinate to the nearby Fort Sumner Army Airfield. The airfield primarily provided glider pilot training. The glider school was operated under contract by Cutter-Carr Flying Service of Albuquerque and under the general supervision of the 9th Glider Training Detachment, 36th Flying Training Wing, Western Flying Training Command. Training was conducted using Aeronca TG-5 combat training gliders, towed by Douglas C-47 (DC-3) aircraft.

The school closed in March 1943 as part of the drawdown of the Army Air Forces pilot training program. The airfield was then declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers. It briefly became a prisoner of war camp in 1944. The airport was eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) after the end of World War II in 1945.

The Tucumcari Municipal Airport was then turned over to civilian use and was served by Pioneer Air Lines from 1948 through 1953. Pioneer was flying a mail and passenger route between Albuquerque and Dallas with Tucumcari being one of many stops made. The airline flew Douglas DC-3 and Martin 202 aircraft.

The airport was then briefly served in 1970 by a small commuter airline, Trans Central Airlines, with passenger flights to Albuquerque and Amarillo using Cessna 402 aircraft. Airfreight service in cooperation with UPS was provided by South Aero prior to 2014, then with Ameriflight from 2014 through 2019, and is currently back with South Aero providing one daily flight to Albuquerque.