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Austin, Texas is the home of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA). There has been an airport in Austin since the early 1930’s, but back then it was called Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, and made its home a little further North. In 1942, the airport was bought by the United States military. They used it for many kinds of aviation training all the way until the early 1980’s, when the military abandoned the project and the city reaquired the airport. ABIA opened its gates to passengers over ten years later in 1999, thus starting a run of record breaking turnouts that has continued year in and year out.  There are also lots of very successful Austin flight schools.

Austin’s aviation history began in 1911, when Calbraith Perry Rodgers landed his plane, called the Vin Fiz Flyer (an early Wright Brothers Model EX pusher biplane) here, after the first flight across North America. Cal landed the biplane in a field near the Ridgetop subdivision, in the vicinity of what is now the intersection of Duval Street and 51st.

Beginning about 1917, the United States Army was using a small dirt strip South of St. Edward’s University to practice take-offs and landings. The strip was called Penn Field and acted as Austin’s first landing strip. It is believed that Penn Field was named for the first pilot from Central Texas to die in aerial combat during the first World War.

In the late 1920’s, Austin City Council had the Army send a pilot from San Antonio to select the best site for a municipal airport. The Army sent Lt. Claire Chennault, who later became known as the famous General Chennault of the World War II “Flying Tigers.” Chennault suggested that the Matthews farm area northeast of downtown Austin by about four miles, would be the best place for a new airport. This was the beginning of Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Named after a city council member who died while serving Austin, the airport was finished and dedicated on October 14, 1930. The main terminal building was dedicated on May 27, 1961, re-built in 1983, and an East terminal was dedicated in April 1990. Austin’s flagship airport’s runways officially shut down in 1999, and ABIA’s opened one day later.

Austin’s come a long way in the last century, and continues to advance and thrive. The area around Austin Bergstrom International Airport is sometimes called the “Silicon Valley of Texas” on account of its consistently growing high tech industry. Austin Aircraft rental is highly sought after, as companies from all over Texas flock to Austin to charter their own personal jets, and ABIA receives over 7 million passengers every year.

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