The following year, commercial air service from American Airlines, Transcontinental and Western, and other carriers began to be offered at the airport.

[4] Over the next two decades, as planes continued to increase in size, the short and unpaved runways of the Springfield Airport made it difficult for commercial air service to expand.

During World War II, wounded returning soldiers were being flown in large numbers to Springfield on their way to the O'Reilly General Hospital, and it became evident that the airport was ill-equipped for air traffic and was in dire need of an upgrade.

Further bonds in the amount of $150,000 to complete the project were approved in 1945, and on July 2 of that year the new Airport opened for business.

[1][5] In the year ending December 31, 2021 the airport had 47,565 aircraft operations, average 130 per day: 44% general aviation, 27% air taxi, 6% military and 22% airline.

"[6] The strongest area of income for SGF is from non-aeronautical revenue activities including parking and rental cars.

[7] Personnel is the largest expenditure for the airport: this major operating expense is increasing per year and remains the highest by a very large margin.