Alexandria International Airport (Louisiana)

Alexandria International Airport
England AFB, March 1983
IATA: AEX ICAO: KAEX FAA LID: AEX
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	England Authority
Serves	Alexandria, Louisiana
Elevation AMSL	89 ft / 27 m
Coordinates	31°19′39″N 92°32′55″W / 31.32750°N 92.54861°W / 31.32750; -92.54861Coordinates: 31°19′39″N 92°32′55″W / 31.32750°N 92.54861°W / 31.32750; -92.54861
Website	www.englandairpark.org
Map
AEX Location of airport in Louisiana
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 14/32 9,352 2,850 Concrete 18/36 7,001 2,134 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2015)
Aircraft operations 29,551 Based aircraft 49
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Alexandria International Airport (IATA: AEX, ICAO: KAEX, FAA LID: AEX) is a public use airport located four nautical miles (5 mi, 7 km) west of the central business district of Alexandria, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. The airport is operated by the England Authority, also known as the England Economic and Industrial Development District, an independent political subdivision of the State of Louisiana. Although international commercial flight operations are not conducted, charter flights for the U.S. military to international destinations are routinely conducted from the airfield with this activity including the transportation of U.S. troops to overseas locations.

This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport. As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 142,223 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 154,736 enplanements in 2009, and 179,129 in 2010.

Prior to 1992, the facility was known as England Air Force Base, which was a front-line United States Air Force base which was opened during World War II and was used during the Cold War.

Alexandria International Airport (AEX) traces its beginnings back to 1939 when it served as an emergency airstrip for Esler Regional Airport, which was about 10 miles northeast of what would become Alexandria International. However, on the eve of World War II, the air strip was taken over by the Department of Defense and named Alexandria Army Air Base. The airbase was used for training pilots and aircrews of fighter and bomber airplanes of the Army Air Force. After World War II ended, the base was placed on standby status in early 1946 and was eventually turned over to the city of Alexandria for use as a municipal airport. With the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, the base was reactivated as Alexandria Air Force Base in 1950.