In the early 1970s, Holiday Inn announced they would construct what would be called Holiday Inn University and Conference Center in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Simultaneous with construction of the University, Holiday Inn began work on a industrial park and the Olive Branch Airport that opened in January, 1973. Today the development is known as Metro Industrial Park. It is an fully planned, improved, and restricted industrial facility. It includes the Olive Branch Airport—one of Mississippi's busiest—offering a paved, lighted runway, and full service fixed-base operations. Today the Olive Branch Airport is owned by the City of Olive Branch.
Facilities and aircraft
Olive Branch Airport covers an area of 414 acres at an elevation of 402 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 18/36 with an asphalt surface measuring 6,000 by 100 feet. There is a fully functioning "Class D" control tower, with an up-link to Memphis International Airport's radar, which is staffed from 7am - 9pm CST daily. The airport has an ILS to Runway 18 and a LOC/DME to Runway 36. Facilities include a general aviation terminal, 25 conventional hangars, 26 T-hangar units, and 140 paved tie-down spaces. The airport also offers on-site car rental through Hertz Rent-A-Car and lodging arrangements at the nearby Whispering Woods Conference Center. Olive Branch Airport is the fixed-base operator. They provide both 100LL and Jet-A fuel for aircraft that are both based there and transient. Olive Branch Airport is home to Downtown Aviation, which has both an extensive maintenance service located at DeWitt Spain Airport and a flight school with pilot training from private pilot to flight instructor located at both locations and additionally provides aircraft rental service. They also have courses in learning aerobatics and flying tail-wheel airplanes. It has a sizable fleet of Cessna aircraft, as well as a Piper Arrow, a Boeing Stearman, a Beechcraft Dutchess, and a Super Decathlon. Air Venture Flight Center is a flight training school and aircraft rental company based at the airport. They have a full-time staff of professional flight instructors and a fleet of Cessna aircraft. It is also a Cessna Pilot Center and operates a charter company called Vectair-USA. Any aircraft from a small training aircraft to a Bombardier Global Expressbusiness jet can operate to, from, and around Olive Branch Airport. A few charter companies have piston singles and twins, jets, and/or turbojets based at Olive Branch Airport. Vectair-USA uses a Beechcraft King Air 9L for chartered flights. OneSky Jets has one King Air B100 based there. For the 12-month period ending October 3, 2012, the airport had 64,825 aircraft operations, an average of 177 per day: 99.8% general aviation and 0.2% military. At that time there were 130 aircraft based at this airport: 76% single-engine, 19% multi-engine, 5% jet, and 1% helicopter.
