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History of Aviation in Tallahassee

In 1929, the City of Tallahassee opened its first municipal airport, Dale Mabry Field. At that time, the airport had one grass landing strip. In 1938-39, the United States Army established a fighter pilot training school at this location and developed three runways to serve their needs. This facility continued to provide military operations and commercial service to the community. The Dale Mabry Field site was abandoned in 1961 when a new facility was completed adjacent to the present airport site. This facility, originally designed to accommodate air traffic needs through 1975, expanded to meet the transportation needs of Florida's capital city and the surrounding region until the late 1980's. On December 3, 1989, the city opened the existing $33 million, airline passenger terminal. The airport anticipates that these facilities and surrounding land development opportunities will enable the Tallahassee Regional Airport to provide world class aviation transportation services for business and leisure travelers well into the next century.

The Tallahassee market area of more than 1.4 million total population includes Tallahassee, eleven neighboring Florida counties and twelve southern Georgia counties. Tallahassee Regional Airport accounts for 32% of air passenger travel in the Northwest Florida Region.

On February 20, 2000 the passenger terminal was officially renamed the Ivan Munroe Terminal in honor of Tallahassee aviation pioneer Ivan Munroe.

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