[2] The airport was renamed in 2003 after NASA astronaut and Amarillo native Rick Husband, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February of that year.

Whipple met with Porter Whaley, the head of Amarillo's Board of City Development, about starting an aviation company.

The operation eventually moved to the north of Amarillo, west of the current Ross Rogers Municipal Golf Course.

Amarillo Airport Corporation, formed by Harold English and Thornton Oxnard, had bought out Lee Bivins' interest.

[6] The airline's timetable stated this transcontinental flight could be accomplished in 36 hours with an "overnight hotel stop" being made in each direction on a routing of Los Angeles – Kingman, Ariz. – Winslow, Ariz. – Albuquerque – Amarillo – Wichita – Kansas City – St. Louis – Indianapolis – Columbus, Ohio – Pittsburgh – Philadelphia – New York City (via Newark Airport).

Transcontinental & Western Air changed its name to Trans World Airlines (still keeping the TWA letters) in 1946 and, by 1950, began using much larger four-engine Lockheed Constellation aircraft at Amarillo.

After airline deregulation was passed in late 1978, TWA added nonstop flights to Kansas City, St. Louis, and Las Vegas while dropping service to Albuquerque.

Dallas-based Long & Harman Air Lines began service in 1934 with a route from Amarillo to Dallas making stops in Wichita Falls and Fort Worth.

This route made Amarillo an important crossroads center as passengers traveling on TWA from Los Angeles and Albuquerque could connect with Braniff flights to Dallas.

By 1945 Braniff introduced a new route from Denver to Memphis with stops at Colorado Springs, Pueblo CO, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Muskogee OK, Fort Smith AR, and Little Rock.

In 1955 an interchange flight was also operated with TWA on a San Francisco – Los Angeles – Las Vegas – Amarillo – Dallas – Houston routing.

In the 1970s the flights to Denver and Oklahoma City were discontinued and Amarillo was no longer included on the interchange route to Miami.

In 1948 the carrier had changed its name to Pioneer and a new route to El Paso began with stops in Clovis, Roswell, and Las Cruces, New Mexico.

[12] Continental Airlines began its service to Amarillo upon merging with Pioneer Air Lines in 1955 and acquiring the route to Houston.

The carrier added jet service in the late 1960s beginning with the Douglas DC-9-10 followed by the Boeing 727-200 on the following routes: Amarillo-Lubbock-Midland-San Angelo-Houston Intercontinental Airport, Amarillo-Lubbock-Midland-El Paso-Los Angeles, and Amarillo-Lubbock-Dallas.

[19] Delta Air Lines served Amarillo beginning in 1982 with Boeing 737-200 nonstops to Dallas/Fort Worth as well as one-stop flights via Lubbock.

[3] The original English Field terminal building was converted in 1997 to a museum maintained by the Texas Aviation Historical Society.

This museum lost its lease with the City of Amarillo and is now located in buildings southeast of the main runway, formally known as Attebury Grain.

[25] The name of the original airfield is memorialized in the English Fieldhouse, a local restaurant located adjacent to the general aviation terminal.

In 2003 the airport terminal building was rededicated to NASA astronaut Rick Husband, the commander of mission STS-107 of the Space Shuttle Columbia and an Amarillo native.

The terminal building underwent a $52.2 million renovation that was designed by the firms Reynolds, Smith & Hills and Shiver Megert and Associates and completed in 2011.

Over 25,000 trees and shrubs were planted and grass sown in an attempt to control soil erosion and dust clouds.

Gen. Julian B. Haddon assumed command on 22 October and held an open house for Amarillo residents on 11 November, Armistice Day, with over 40,000 attending.

Students became familiar with mechanics tools, and the structure of the B-17, which included a B-17 cutaway, and a complete B-17 composed of parts from five different previously scrapped airplanes.

[28]: 107, 110, 115–116, 121–122, 129–130, 135–136, 142–143, 146, 150, 154 In early 1965, ATC announced plans to close its training operations at Amarillo AFB, and transfer the base to the Air Defense Command.

[28]: 157–158, 160, 162–163 On 10 February 1966, an airman basic died from an outbreak of spinal meningitis at Lackland Air Force Base.

[32] On 1 February 1963 the 4128th was replaced by reactivated 461st Bombardment Wing, Heavy (461st BW), which assumed its mission, personnel and equipment.

On 1 July facilities were released for civilian use, including those for Bell Helicopter, and Texas A&M University's technical training institute.

Remaining Amarillo Technical Training Center functions ceased on 31 December 1968, and the base was placed in inactive status on 1 January 1969.

[2][37] In the year ending July 31, 2018, the airport had 68,367 aircraft operations, average 187 per day: 40% military, 37% general aviation, 11% air taxi and 12% scheduled commercial.