Mason City Municipal Airport
Mason City Municipal Airport
Mason City Municipal Airport (IATA: MCW, ICAO: KMCW, FAA LID: MCW) is located six miles west of downtown Mason City, in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. It is in the northern part of Lake Township, just east of the city of Clear Lake. It is used for general aviation and has airline service subsidized through the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025 categorized it as a non-primary commercial service airport.
Location
43.160°N, 93.330°O · 370 m s. n. m. (1.213 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 3 Official publication
Approach
Common traffic (CTAF)
Automated weather
Frequencies from the official publication: FAA NASR, AIRAC 01 OCT 2026, checked on Oct 16, 2026. They change with each amendment: not for navigation without checking the current AIP. See the official publication In MHz.
History
On February 2, 1942 Mason City decided to build a new airport and purchased 312 acres several miles west of the city. The new Mason City Municipal Airport saw its first official landing on March 29, 1945. The airport had two paved runways, associated taxiways, and a small ramp area. A remodeled farmhouse was used as the first terminal during the dedication on June 22, 1946.
Airline flights began in 1946, on Mid-Continent; successor Braniff left in 1959. Ozark started in 1955 and pulled out in 1983. They now have daily flights to and from Chicago (KORD) through Skywest by United Airlines on CRJ-200's.
A new commercial service terminal building was constructed and opened July 31, 2024. The new 23,000 square foot terminal replaced the existing terminal constructed in 1966.
Musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, along with pilot Roger Peterson, died in a plane crash after taking off from Mason City Municipal Airport in the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, after a concert at the Surf Ballroom in nearby Clear Lake. This event is not commemorated anywhere on the airport grounds; a private monument is near the crash site.
What flies here
From our own logbook: 12 aircraft documented between 2022 and 2025.
Types seen here
Airlines with documented aircraft
Busiest routes from here
A count of our own aircraft profiles, year by year, from the public United States flight records: it reflects what we have documented, not the airport’s total traffic.
Photo: Iowaman · CC BY-SA 3.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 16, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 16). Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW). Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/MCW
MLA
“Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 16 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/MCW. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 16, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/MCW.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/MCW (Accessed: 23 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_mcw,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-16},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/MCW},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/MCW}},
urldate = {2026-10-23},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-23}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/MCW |title=Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-16 |access-date=2026-10-23 |language=en}}