Wichita, Kansas, the 'Air Capital of the World,' Offers Aviators Airports, Museums and Fly-In Dining
Why It MattersWichita's dense mix of airports, manufacturer facilities and surviving aerospace firms shows how a legacy general aviation manufacturing base still anchors infrastructure and supplier activity in the region.
Wichita, Kansas, known as the "Air Capital of the World," is the birthplace of manufacturers including Beechcraft, Cessna, Learjet and Mooney. More than half of all general aviation aircraft were built there, and approximately 300,000 aircraft have been produced in the city, which at one point had nearly three dozen aircraft manufacturers. Hundreds of aerospace companies are still based in the metropolitan area of 650,000 residents.
More than a dozen airports lie within a 25-mile radius of downtown. Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (KICT), the commercial service airport, has the longest runways and two full-service FBOs, and hosts facilities of Textron Aviation and Bombardier. Colonel James Jabara Airport (KAAO) is untowered but busy, with a 6,101-foot runway. Beech Factory Airport (KBEC) is owned and operated by Textron Aviation. McConnell Air Force Base (KIAB) hosts 18 Boeing KC-135s and 24 KC-46s, and Cessna Aircraft Field (KCEA) is privately owned.
The Kansas Aviation Museum occupies the former Wichita Municipal Airport terminal, a 48,000-square-foot building where the last commercial airline passenger walked in 1954; it became a museum in 1991. Visitors can board aircraft on the ramp, including a FedEx-livery Boeing 727 and a Boeing KC-135E, and view McConnell AFB from the control tower. New hour-long, docent-led archive tours cover items such as original FAA aircraft registration cards and blueprints from Swallow, Travel Air and Cessna, and an on-site restoration shop is working on a Cessna 310 and a Beechcraft Bonanza.
Fly-in dining options include Stearman Field Bar & Grill at Lloyd Stearman Field (1K1) in Benton, with a 5,106-foot paved runway and nine resident Stearman biplanes. The historic Beaumont Hotel, opened in 1879, is reached from Beaumont Hotel Airport (07S) and its 2,400-foot sloped runway. The Airport Steakhouse sits at Hutchinson Regional Airport (KHUT), about 40 minutes northwest, which has three paved runways, the longest 7,003 feet. Hutchinson, a town of roughly 40,000, is also home to the Cosmosphere, a 105,000-square-foot space museum established in 1962.
