Airport History and Progress

Early Airfield Development

Constructed in 1941 as an auxiliary landing field to train Naval Aviators during World War II, the Airport was named West Prospect Field. The Federal Government deeded the property to the City of Fort Lauderdale in 1947 to be used as a public airport and the airport was unofficially named “Fort Lauderdale Municipal Airport,” but pilots called it “Prospect Field.”   In 1959, the City of Fort Lauderdale’s City Commission Resolution # 7336 changed the airport’s name to “Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.”  “Industrial Airpark” was added to the name in 1966.

Activities at the airport have always reflected the prevailing conditions in the local area. When it became a public airport, it was in a remote part of Fort Lauderdale, with little or no development nearby. During those early years, the runways were used more for drag racing than for aircraft takeoffs and landings.

To help bring economic development into the area and create job opportunities, the City established the Airport Industrial Board and sold Airport land to companies like Allied Signal Bendix and Harris Computer Corporation. Funds from these land sales were used for airfield improvements such as taxiway construction, lighting systems, and guidance signs. The first building on the Airport, a flight school maintenance hangar constructed in 1959, is still in use today.

Over the following decades and as business development boomed in Fort Lauderdale, that first hangar grew to over 450 hangars housing more than 700 aircraft, including about 115 jets and 37 helicopters.

Today, six full service Fixed Base Operators, or FBOs, provide fueling, maintenance, and other services to these aircraft doing business here and bringing people to the area. Related business, such as charter companies, interior refurbishing companies, flight schools, and avionics shops, also successfully established themselves at Executive Airport.

Fueled by the phenomenal economic activity in South Florida, total aircraft operations grew significantly over the decades. Today, the airport handles nearly 200,000 annual takeoffs and landings, making it one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country, based on the number of aircraft operations.

Industrial Airpark Development

Business has blossomed in the airport's 200 acre Industrial Airpark. This growth direction resulted from the efforts of the City and the Airport Industrial Board, renamed the Aviation Advisory Board. Their efforts developed Executive Airport as a business and executive facility and minimized its role as a sport and recreational airport.

In 1974, as economic development began to unfold in Fort Lauderdale and real estate development boomed, the City decided to stop the practice of selling airport land and instituted a lease-only policy, thereby ensuring a continuing revenue stream for the airport Enterprise Fund. Today over 125 individual businesses call the Industrial Airpark home, including Elite Panel Products, Telematics, Marriott Hotels, Citicorp Latino, Walgreens, Dry Clean USA, Lucent Technologies, and General Electric.

These non-aviation businesses occupy more than 1.3 million square feet of office and warehouse space and make the Executive Airport Industrial Airpark the 16th largest in the tri-county area. In recognition of Executive Airport's economic importance in the community, it was made a Division of the Community and Economic Development Department of the City in the mid-1980s.

Community Facilities at the Airport

In addition to promoting economic development, Executive Airport also became home to a number of diverse community-based activities. The U.S. Army Reserve Center's 841st Engineering Battalion is located on the field. The Center is named for Sandy Nininger, a Fort Lauderdale native and the first recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor during W.W.II.

The City of Fort Lauderdale Police Department has a substation and a hangar at the airport. The Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) maintains its special operations, such as the aviation unit, marine patrol, bomb squad, and canine units, here.

The airport also contains two fire stations. The on-airport one is dedicated to aircraft rescue and operates a state-of-the-art 1500-gallon pump and roll vehicle that can also fight structural fires in the Uptown area. The other is located in the Industrial Airpark and is used to fight building fires.

Buehler Aviation Research, part of a nationally recognized foundation, restores aircraft for the Smithsonian Institution. The group restored the Howard Hughes Grumman Goose currently on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and recently constructed a replica of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra. Also, Florida Atlantic University and Barry University offer educational programs from facilities located on the property.

Environmental Program The airport is also home to two of Florida's rare species. Gopher Tortoises are primarily located in a secluded area on the north side of the airport. The area is made up of rare native plants and serves as a shelter and nesting ground for these rare creatures.

The other species is the Burrowing Owl, which has nests scattered throughout the airfield. PVC pipes shaped like "Ts" mark their nests so that they are visible to the Airport's maintenance crews and also serve as a place for the owls to perch during the breeding season. A recent statewide population survey of the Florida Burrowing Owl conducted by the University of Central Florida and the Audubon Society counted 79 resident burrowing owls and 49 active burrows at the airport.

In an effort to minimize disruption to the owls, Executive Airport schedules its construction projects so as not to interfere with the owls' breeding or nesting seasons.