After a 4000-ft paved runway opened in 1950-52 on the present site, McAlester Airport began receiving scheduled commercial airline service.

Central Airlines started scheduling Douglas DC-3s to McAlester in 1952 as one of many stops along a route between Amarillo and Dallas/Fort Worth.

In 1967 Central merged into the original Frontier Airlines which continued service to McAlester until 1968, also using DC-3 aircraft.

Exec Express began flights from McAlester to Tulsa in 1985 then later switched to DFW using Piper Navajo and Beechcraft 99 aircraft.

[1] In the year ending September 12, 2005 the airport had 9,000 aircraft operations, average 24 per day: 73% general aviation, 17% air taxi and 10% military.