Manhattan Regional Airport, located in Riley County, Kansas, began construction on June 13, 1939, with the establishment of temporary grass runways. The airport was officially dedicated in November 1940. The first terminal, named "Manhattan Municipal Airport," opened on April 19, 1953, with a speech by U.S. Senator Frank Carlson, coinciding with the start of Continental Airlines DC-3 flights. Since the 1950s, Manhattan Regional Airport has been served by several airlines. In 1979, the southwest end of runway 3-21 was extended by 1,500 feet, and the entire runway was widened by 50 feet to accommodate new Boeing 737 service operated by Frontier Airlines. The original runway, constructed in 1963, includes 13 inches of concrete, with additional concrete added in 1979 at the southwest end and widened areas. However, due to the location of a localizer antenna, only a 660-foot area for runway safety is built at the departure end of runway 21, compared to the compliant 1000-foot area at the end of runway 3. As a result, runway 21 has a landing length of 7,000 feet, whereas takeoffs and landings from runway 3 are limited to 6660 feet. The current airline terminal opened in two phases between 2015 and 2016, replacing the 1997 terminal. The $18 million project has three jet bridge parking positions from two gates, and can accommodate aircraft as large as the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. The new terminal has more space for ticketing, baggage claim, car rental, and security screening. Continental Airlines The first scheduled airline at Manhattan was Continental Airlines, which began Douglas DC-3 flights in April 1953. Manhattan was added as a stop on a route between Denver and Kansas City, a route that made a total of ten stops at smaller cities throughout Colorado and Kansas. Continental pulled out in 1961, replaced by Central Airlines. Central Airlines Central Airlines provided service from 1961 through 1967 by picking up the former Continental Airlines route between Denver and Kansas City with stops at Manhattan and several other points. Central also used DC-3 aircraft. Capitol Air Service Capitol Air Service (ICAO airline designator CPX, not to be confused with Capitol Air), was headquartered in Manhattan from the 1960s until the company ceased flights in 1989, after having twice been grounded by the FAA for multiple safety and records keeping violations. Capitol Air provided point-to-point air service to cities throughout northeastern Kansas. In the 1970s Capital Air, an air taxi service, suffered two crashes, one with fatalities. In the 1980s one of its aircraft was tipped over by a gust of wind while waiting for take off clearance, and another aircraft, a Twin Otter, clipped the side of a terminal building, both incidents occurring at Kansas City International Airport. At its height Capitol Air served Manhattan; Salina, KS (SLN); Topeka, KS (FOE); Lawrence, KS (LWC); and Kansas City, MO (MCI) using two 20-passenger de Havilland Canada Twin Otters and smaller Cessna 402 aircraft. From mid-1987 until early 1989 Capitol Air operated as Braniff Express on behalf of Braniff Airways. Frontier Airlines Starting when it merged with Central Airlines in 1967, the original Frontier Airlines flew from Manhattan to Salina, Wichita (ICT), and Denver (DEN) westbound and to Topeka (FOE) and Kansas City eastbound on 44-seat Convair CV580s. Beginning in late 1979 Frontier replaced their Convair turboprop aircraft with Boeing 737-200 jets on the same routings. Direct service to Chicago O'Hare International Airport with a stop at Lincoln was also added with the 737s. All Frontier service ended in 1983 being replaced by Air Midwest. Trans Central Airlines Trans Central briefly operated from Manhattan to Oklahoma City and Dallas/Ft. Worth in 1982 using Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner commuter aircraft. Air Midwest Beginning in 1982, Wichita-based Air Midwest flew from Manhattan to Kansas City and Salina on 17-passenger Swearingen Metroliner IIs.