Historically, it has also suffered from financial difficulties, specifically due to budget restrictions having been leased numerous times.

The terminal maintains a pilot lounge, as well as a medical facility, accommodation areas and administrative buildings; food and snacks are also offered.

Cargo flights are also offered to fellow airports using packages from FedEx and the United Parcel Service (UPS) by a number of airlines.

[6] It was constructed around the Donald Dodge and Grace Bell ranches,[7] and served as a 1 mile (1.6 km) long hard-surfaced emergency landing airfield strip primarily used by military aircraft on training flights, for which purpose it was approved by the United States Armed Forces.

[8] According to the city council, it has been expanded since then with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

[9] By March 1957, the improvements were seen as a high priority, but all of the bids from the seven companies interested in carrying out the work exceeded the estimate.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) was notified, with the city council suggesting that the contract should be awarded to Wenatchee's Regan Electric, who bid $17,672.

In addition to the lighting, 14,000 feet (4,300 m) of electric cables were to be installed, and the work was to be completed within 120 days of signing the contract.

[11] The work, which included an aerodrome beacon, was not completed until 1958, and a dedication program was planned for May 1958, jointly organised by two flying clubs and the city council.

The terminal was dedicated to Arno Hopfer, a former city councilman who positively spoke for the airport when others considered it to be a stale project; the then-new Okanogan Valley Pilots Association, which is no longer existent, gave it an aircraft presentation on September 30, 1979.

These services were initially announced by Bruce Burk, the then-new spokesman for the Okanogan Valley Pilots Association.

[30] In 2007, the Omak City Council was granted $142,500 to improve the airfield's taxiway and parking area, some of which was provided by the FAA.

[21][33] 30 private aircraft came to the airport from locations in Eastern Washington in 1949, for an air show presentation around the Okanogan County.

[36] In September that year, Taquan Air also began testing their services at the Omak Airport to Wenatchee and Seattle for a period of three to six months;[37][38] this did not continue after because of a consensus against it.

[41] Operations to Seattle or Spokane and Wenatchee were considered around 2005 by the Omak City Council in response to offered information to Harbor Air,[42] but no further action was taken.

[44] In October 1953, the airfield was leased to a firm for four-years under conditions as a public airport; the Omak Chamber of Commerce was told about the situation.

Despite this, it was suggested that this money depends largely upon commercial airline service among the Okanogan County and the "job is too big" for the Omak City Council.

One proposal was to develop a port or airport district to operate the airfield, although snow removal in the winter by a plow machine would be a difficult task to perform.

Approximately 17,875 aircraft movements were also garnered in 1995, 2000 and 2001, showing no sign of improvement over the previous statistics from 1990; it gained the same amount of operations under the same categories until 2005.

[42] Overall, the highest number of movements it has gained yearly is 142,000 and lowest is 4,254 according to the WSDOT; the most based aircraft at the Omak Airport was 658 at one point.

The based aircraft obtain their fuel from Chevron Corporation, which is located on site and serves as an aviation dealer.

[80] As of 1999[update] when a performance survey was conducted for improvement,[5] the airfield has a 4,667 by 150 feet (1,423 by 46 m) paved,[81] asphalt runway aligned 17–35 that is equipped with automated lights and maintains a published global positioning system non-precision approach approved by the FAA,[3][16] making it the largest in the Okanogan County and third largest in Central Washington,[60] that large aircraft and bomb tankers may land on.

[83] The runway, which is home to a non-directional beacon, is inspected occasionally by land development and transportation service organization WHPacific, is home to a full-length 50 feet (15 m) taxiway which was developed in 1997 and finished by 1999 in addition to a taxilane between hangar buildings in "fair to poor condition" according to the WSDOT.

[5] Since August 2008 when a large fire occurred around Omak and surrounding communities, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have been permitted to land large tanker aircraft and helicopters at it for firefighting purposes; this service frequents in the summer months.

[3][32] The critical aircraft, which refers to what the airfield was initially designed for and has landed at it at least 500 times, serves as the Cessna 208 Caravan according to WSDOT database records.

[87][88] The navigation system is owned by the Omak City Council, operates 24 hours daily,[88] and serves a number of surrounding airports that do not contain these aids.

[3] While telephone service is provided by US West, power to the E-class airfield in Omak, is offered by the Okanogan County Public Utilities District.

[5] There have been proposals from the FAA to amend its E-class status by extending upward to an elevation of 700 feet (210 m) and removing its non-active navigation aid since January 2013.

[92] Owned and operated by the Omak City Council,[1] the airport contains a number of employees including manager Ken Mears.

[99] Although this airport does not support direct commercial flights, it does provide three daily charter flights and general aviation services from Monday to Friday to other selected destinations,[5] including the Pangborn Memorial Airport,[100] by charter airlines such as Ameriflight and Empire Airlines.