Alexandria International Airport 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. 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.
History
Alexandria International Airport (AEX) traces its beginnings back to 1939 when it served as an emergency airstrip for Esler Airfield, 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.
On June 23, 1955, Alexandria Army Air Base was renamed England Air Force Base in honor of Lieutenant Colonel John Brooke England, who died on November 17, 1954. John England was the commander of the 389th Bomber Squadron stationed at the base. England died while attempting to land in dense fog in France. During his approach, he ran out of fuel and sacrificed himself by steering away from a barracks and into a nearby field, where he crashed and was killed.
At the end of the Cold War, the United States Department of Defense wanted to close many of its military bases including England Air Force Base. The city of Alexandria feared that the economic impact of the airfield closing would devastate the economy, so the city of Alexandria created the England Economic and Industrial Development District (England Authority) to take over the base for the purpose of creating a major air transport resource for the region and the state.
After the application by the England Authority and the recommendation from the FAA, the Department of Defense granted all airside and landside areas to the England Authority. In August 1993, Alexandria International Airport opened for service. And in August 1996, Alexandria International began to receive commercial airline passenger service with flights to and from Atlanta (ATL), Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH) and Memphis (MEM), although service to Memphis was subsequently discontinued. Alexandria had previously been served by commercial airline flights operated from Esler Airfield (ESF) located near Pineville, Louisiana.
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Alexandria International Airport has played an important role in moving thousands of military personnel and millions of pounds of cargo in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States military, under a commercial lease with the England Authority, invested nearly $60 million in airfield facilities including the hazardous cargo loading/unloading aprons, a military passenger processing facility, Military Air Cargo Apron and resurfacing Runway 18.
Alexandria International Airport also played an important role in storm recovery efforts following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The airport was designated by the Louisiana Department of Transportation as a disaster relief staging and support area, and also served as a command center location for the coordination of aircraft and supplies as well as acting as a staging location for troops and workers who were involved in the recovery effort.
In February 2004, Air Force One landed at the airport with President George W. Bush on board. This Boeing 747-200B (U.S. Air Force aircraft designation VC-25A) is one of the largest aircraft to have ever visited AEX. President Bill Clinton also landed at the airfield on board Air Force One during his presidency. However, the largest aircraft ever to have landed at the airport appears to be the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy military jet transport operated by the U.S. Air Force.
On November 4, 2010, the Memphis Business Journal reported that Delta Connection, which operates passenger feeder services via a codesharing agreement with Delta Air Lines with regional jets, had ceased service on the Alexandria-Memphis route due to poor performance. This route had previously been flown by Northwest Airlink when Northwest Airlines was operating a connecting hub in Memphis. Delta acquired the Memphis hub when its merger with Northwest was completed and has since consolidated many of the former Memphis routes to its larger Atlanta hub. Alexandria continues to be served on a nonstop basis to and from Atlanta by the Delta Connection.
In July 2025, Alexandria International Airport was identified by The New York Times as the "busiest deportation hub" of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, with 80 more deportation flights than the second-busiest airport at press time. A detention facility with 400 beds and spanning 70,000 square feet, known as the 'Alexandria Staging Facility' run by The GEO Group is located on the airport's tarmac. An investigation into the facility found "a pattern of alleged due process violations, previously unreported accounts of neglect and abuse, documented health emergencies and long stays, despite the center’s intended use as a short-term detention facility"
Facilities and aircraft
Alexandria International Airport covers an area of 3,212 acres (1,300 ha) at an elevation of 89 feet (27 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways: 14/32 is 9,352 by 150 feet (2,850 x 46 m) with a concrete surface; 18/36 is 7,001 by 150 feet (2,134 x 46 m) with an asphalt and concrete surface.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
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Both airlines serving Alexandria operate Canadair Regional Jet -700 and -900 aircraft. In addition to scheduled passenger airline services, the airport has also handled numerous charters performed by large, widebody passenger aircraft (with an example being the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 jetliner) that were supporting military personnel transportation requirements.