The City of Duluth purchased the original property for the airport in 1929 from Saint Louis County. The airport was constructed on of land with two sod runways. In 1930, the airfield was dedicated as Williamson–Johnson Municipal Airport. In 1940, Northwest Airlines began the first regularly scheduled air service to Duluth. Two years later, operations were temporarily halted by World War II. In 1942, three runways were paved. Each runway was long, wide, and at nearly equal angles from each other, 30, 90, and 130 degrees. They were identified as runways 3–21, 9–27, and 13–31, respectively. The Corps of Engineers extended Runways 9–27 and 3–21 to in 1945. In 1951, the USAF extended Runway 9–27 to with a overrun and the control tower was built. Runway 9–27 was rebuilt in 1956 and extended in 1966 to in length. The original terminal building was built in 1954, south of Runway 9–27 and west of Runway 3–21. The terminal floor area was with 280 parking spaces. It would serve the airport for nearly 20 years. In 1961, the Duluth Airport Authority Board renamed the facility Duluth International Airport. In 1973, a new Terminal Building and U.S. Customs, International Arrivals Building, were completed east of Runway 13–31 and opened for operation. Runway 13–31 was shortened to to accommodate construction of an addition to the International Arrivals building. This resulted in Runway 13–31 being closed as a runway due to obstructions. Runway 13–31 was re-striped in 1980, decreasing its width to, for use as a taxiway. In 1989, the newer terminal building and the adjacent structures were connected to form one enclosure. The original terminal building was then converted for use as offices for general aviation, the FAA, and the U.S. Weather Bureau. The 1973 terminal building had its last flight take place on January 13, 2013. In 2013, a new passenger terminal was built directly in front of the 1973 terminal. This new building solved several problems of the previous terminal building, including that the tails of parked airplanes extended too close to the runway due to FAA airspace changes made after the building's completion. This terminal building has restrooms and concessions beyond the TSA security checkpoint, something the previous terminal lost when screening processes were put in place after 9/11. The first flight to leave the new terminal was on January 14: United Express Flight 5292 to Chicago O'Hare. On October 30, 2015, the new terminal was named for the late U.S. Representative Jim Oberstar, who represented the congressional district in which the airport lies from 1975 to 2011 and helped secure funding for the facility before its 2013 opening. A 370-stall parking ramp with skywalk connection to the terminal was completed in fall 2014. On May 23, 2019, American Airlines began twice-daily service to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. American ceased operations into Duluth in April 2020, citing lackluster demand. In 2020, the airport received a $5,246,844 federal grant via the CARES Act.
Facilities and aircraft
Duluth International Airport covers an area of at an elevation of 1,428 feet above mean sea level. It has two runways: 9/27 is with a concrete surface and 3/21 is with an asphalt surface. For the year ending December 31, 2017, the airport had 64,053 aircraft operations, an average of 175 per day: 79% general aviation, 7% military, 13% air taxi and 2% scheduled commercial. In October 2018, there were 88 aircraft based at this airport: 49 single-engine, 10 multi-engine, 4 jet, 4 helicopter and 21 military.
The Duluth Transit Authority operates two bus routes from the airport, including Route 8 on weekdays and Route 5 on weekends.
Statistics
Top destinations
Accidents
On May 31, 1954, a USAF Douglas C-47 crashed in a gravel pit in heavy fog at then Duluth-Williamson-Johnson Municipal Airport. Seven of the 14 occupants on board were killed.
