March 2025
90 Years at PHX: 1930s
We are looking back at previous decades as we lead up to the 90th anniversary of the City of Phoenix purchasing Phoenix Sky Harbor.
Parker Van Zandt purchased 278 acres of farmland in 1928, and Sky Harbor Airport was born. The official dedication was in 1928 and was attended by 8,000 people with scheduled passenger service offered by Scenic Airways. Scenic Airways opened a ground and flight school at the fledging airport, the first one approved in Arizona by the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Despite being so new and relatively remote (Sky Harbor was nicknamed “The Farm” due to being so distant from Phoenix proper) the airport was the second airport in the nation to have a lighted runway.
The airport was purchased by the City of Phoenix after American Airlines threatened to end its air service if the city did not take over. The city bought the airport for $100,000 in 1935. The airport was then granted its first and only security guard by the city.
This was the biggest step in a decade of small steps for the airport in the 1930s.
Other highlights include:
- Regularly scheduled airmail service began in Phoenix in 1930. In 1933, Copperclad Flight School opened with one airplane.
- Sky Harbor built an east-west runway in 1937, foreshadowing its current configuration.
See more highlights from our 90th anniversary at https://www.skyharbor.com/90years
