Lea County Regional Airport (Lea County-Hobbs Airport) is four miles (6.4 km) west of Hobbs, in Lea County, New Mexico, United States. The airport covers and has three runways. It is an FAA certified commercial airport served by United Airlines' affiliate with daily regional flights. Lea County Regional Airport is the largest of the three airports owned and operated by Lea County Government. Lea County also owns and operates two general aviation airports in Lovington and Jal, New Mexico.

Facilities

The airport covers 898 acres (363 ha) and has three asphalt runways:

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| United Express | Denver, Houston–Intercontinental

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Statistics

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|+ Busiest domestic routes from HOB (May 2024 – April 2025)

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! Rank

! Airport

! Passengers

! Carriers

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| 1

| Houston–Intercontinental, Texas

| 13,310

| United

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| 2

| Denver, Colorado

| 12,520

| United

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History

Me-Tex Airport opened on July 23, 1937, where the Hobbs golf course is now, next to Lea County Regional Airport. The Me-Tex Supply Company had leased land from the state and built oiled runways and a hangar at Me-Tex.

In 1940, the city of Hobbs passed a bond issue to purchase some adjoining acreage, with the intent of bringing airline service and airmail delivery. Federal grants helped pay for paved runways and taxiways and a terminal building for Hobbs Municipal Airport, which opened during World War II. Me-Tex Airport closed in 1946–47.

Ownership of the airport was transferred from the city of Hobbs to Lea County on November 19, 1945 The terminal building was expanded in the late 2000s and another significant expansion occurred in the late 2010s.

Historical airline service

The first air mail arrived in Hobbs via Continental Airlines in May 1940, and started passenger flights that year to Albuquerque, El Paso, San Antonio, and Tulsa, each making several stops en route. Service was started using Lockheed Electras and Lodestars, later upgraded to Douglas DC-3s and Convair 340s. As Hobbs was a crossroads on Continental's routes from Albuquerque to San Antonio and from El Paso to Tulsa in the 1950s, passengers were able to change planes at Hobbs between the two routes. The contract carrier operating as United Express switched from ExpressJet to SkyWest Airlines and began flights to Denver on October 27, 2019. The Denver flights were suspended in March of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but were reinstated in October of 2021. All United Express flights were switched from SkyWest Airlines to CommuteAir in mid-2022 and back to SkyWest in May, 2024.

See also

  • Hobbs, New Mexico

References

  • Lea County Regional Airport
  • FlyHobbs.com – official site