April 2025
90 Years at PHX: 1940s and 1950s
As part of our year-long 90th anniversary celebration, we’re looking back at the previous decades in our history.
The 1930s saw Phoenix grow and the city of Phoenix acquire Sky Harbor Airport in 1935. The year 1940 marked a period of change in Phoenix as the city began to shift from a farming mecca to more industrial. This was due to World War II.
With growth, there was the need to further develop the airport’s facilities. In 1940, Sky Harbor built its first control tower, and the airport expanded to 320 acres. The US Army also brought its headquarters to the airport. The Army would later use Sky Harbor as a place to refuel planes during World War II.
By December 1940, the airlines at Sky Harbor included American, TWA, Carl Knier’s Sky Harbor Air Service and Southwest Airways, Inc., bringing the total number of planes based at Sky Harbor to 35.
In 1943, a 64-seat Sky Chefs restaurant opened at the airport, and the Navy Air Transport Service began using Sky Harbor as a stop on its transcontinental route. In 1944, the tower added a second story and was enclosed, and in 1945, the first runway was paved.
In 1946, Sky Harbor was served by three airlines and considered the nation’s busiest. The airport also continued its growth, expanding to 400 acres. 1948 saw Sky Chefs open a new cocktail lounge, coffee shop and dining room at the airport’s original north terminal. In 1949, the Air National Guard began operating at Sky Harbor.
There were approximately 105,000 people who lived within the Phoenix city limits in 1950. Total passenger traffic at Sky Harbor in 1950 was 240,786. In 1952, that number increased to 296,066. Subsequent years continued to see an increase in passenger traffic.
“I had no idea that it would be that busy,” said former Assistant Director of Sky Harbor Doug Carr in a past video interview. “During the years I was there (the late 1940’s up until the mid-1950’s), we always stayed close to number one, and occasionally we’d slip and go back to number two. I understand now that we’re among the nation’s busiest. It has just mushroomed. And, it just kept growing and kept growing and it is still growing.”
The growth meant the need for a modern terminal, and as a result, Terminal 1 was constructed. It was built by Mardian Construction Company at a cost of $835,000 and completed in September 1952. One of the most unique features of it was a new state-of-the-art control tower. This was quite a change from when local planes came in and their owners just parked them anywhere.
There continued to be changes, growth and “firsts” in the 1950s. In 1954, the airport built a hotel – the Sky Riders Hotel. In 1955, Sky Harbor opened a covered parking facility with a 24-hour Texico service station. In 1956, Sky Harbor opened the nation’s first fly-in bank service with the First National Bank of Arizona.
By 1957, the airport was ranked 11th in the US for flight operations. Much space was needed to handle operations, so another terminal was planned. 1957 also saw Western Airlines first flight to Phoenix and two-way radio communication became mandatory for all aircraft using the airport. The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) building was completed, and the Sky Riders Hotel also opened “Sky Cove Restaurant.”
In 1958, the airport received its first radar-base air traffic control system, and Sky Harbor and the surrounding Phoenix area were classified as a high-density air traffic zone by the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
In 1959, an American Airlines Boeing 707 landed at Sky Harbor. This was the first jet airliner at the airport and introduced Phoenix to the jet age. This year also marked Sky Harbor as being the fourth busiest airport in the nation.
Join us next month as we look at the 1960s and the changes that occurred during that decade, including the opening of Terminal 2.
**Information taken from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport the First 50 Years – Research from Pamela Jones as well as previous recorded interviews with Doug Carr.
Learn more about Phoenix’s history here.
Photo captions - Top: North terminal 1948; Bottom: Terminal 1 in 1956
For more information on our 90th anniversary, visit https://www.skyharbor.com/90years
