Ventura County opened Oxnard Airport in 1934 by clearing a 3,500 ft dirt runway. In the 1930s aviatorHoward Hughes erected a tent at the airport to shelter his famous H-1 monoplane racer, which he tested from the dirt strip. In 1938 Ventura County paved the dirt runway and built a large hangar. In 1939 James McLean opened the Oxnard Flying School with a Piper J-3 Cub and a Kinner 2-seat airplane. Housing was built nearby for instructors and students at the school. In late 1941, the airport was assigned to the U.S. Navy until the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu could be completed. The Navy moved to NAS Point Mugu in 1945 and the Oxnard Flying School returned to the airport. Ventura County regained control of the airport in 1948, receiving a final quitclaim deed. The state of California issued the airport an operating permit in 1949.
Past airline service
Scheduled airline service started in 1946 with Southwest Airways flying Douglas DC-3s on a multi-stop route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Southwest then changed its name to Pacific Air Lines which in turn began operating Martin 4-0-4 prop aircraft followed by Fairchild F-27 turboprops into the airport. In 1968 Pacific merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West which was subsequently renamed Hughes Airwest which in turn continued to serve Oxnard with F-27s. Also in 1968, Cable Commuter Airlines was operating de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter service to LAX. Hughes Airwest ended all service to Oxnard in the early 1970s and was then replaced by Golden West Airlines and other commuter air carriers. Golden West operated de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and Short 330 turboprops nonstop to Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara. Other service included Wings West with Beech 99 turboprops to Los Angeles and Desert Pacific Airlines flying Piper twin prop aircraft nonstop to San Francisco, Sacramento and Las Vegas. By 1980, Golden Gate Airlines was operating nonstop service to Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Monterey, and Santa Barbara with direct service to San Francisco. In 1981, two airlines were serving the airport according to the Official Airline Guide : Golden West Airlines with ten nonstop flights every weekday from Los Angeles plus two nonstop flights every weekday from San Diego primarily flown with Twin Otter aircraft with some flights being operated with the Short 330, and Santa Barbara-based Apollo Airways operating Handley Page Jetstream propjets with five nonstop flights every weekday from Santa Barbara with this Apollo service featuring connecting flights via Santa Barbara from the California cities of Bakersfield, Fresno, Monterey, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose. Oxnard never received scheduled jet service; however, the airport did have Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia propjet service operated by WestAir as United Express nonstop to San Francisco in the 1990s. Most service was operated to LAX with a few flights to Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and other cities at this time. In 1985, Evergreen Airspur, a division of Evergreen International Airlines, was operating de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters to LAX. In 1987 Resort Commuter Airlines was operating nonstop service to LAX as a Trans World Express air carrier on behalf of Trans World Airlines. By 1988 Qwest Air was flying nonstop service to San Diego and Sacramento with Dornier 228 commuter turboprops. Also during the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, two airlines were flying Oxnard-LAX service: American Eagle operated by Wings West flying Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner propjets and United Express operated by WestAir flying British AerospaceBAe Jetstream 31 propjets. The United Express service would later be taken over by SkyWest Airlines with this airline operating Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias. United Express subsequently ended all scheduled passenger flights at the airport and Oxnard no longer has airline service. California Air Shuttle was a commuter airline based at the Oxnard Airport. In 1990, it briefly operated nonstop service with a Swearingen Metro II propjet aircraft between the airport and Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento. This new start-up air carrier quickly went out of business.
Facilities and aircraft
Oxnard Airport covers 230 acres at an elevation of 45 feet above mean sea level. Its one runway, 7/25, is 5,953 by 100 feet asphalt. In 2010 the airport had 55,323 aircraft operations, average 151 per day: 92% general aviation, 8% air taxi, and <1% military. 157 aircraft were then based at this airport: 79% single-engine, 17% multi-engine, and 5% helicopter.
