Early years

Eastern Air Lines served Mobile from the 1930s until 1991; in the 1930s Eastern's one flight a day each way between Newark and San Antonio stopped at what is now Mobile International Airport.

Bates Field

During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces used Mobile Regional Airport. The 533d Army Air Force Base Unit commanded the airport, then known as Bates Field. The Army Air Forces also operated an auxiliary airfield at St. Elmo Airport.

The Army used this airport as a basic (level 1) pilot training airfield, under contract to Waterman Airlines. They performed flying training with Fairchild PT-19 aircraft as the primary trainer. The Army also assigned several Boeing-Stearman Model 75 aircraft. The Army also used Bates for glider pilot training under contract to Mobile Area Soaring, which used primarily Douglas C-47 Skytrain and Waco CG-4 unpowered gliders. The school aimed to train student pilots in proficiency in operation of gliders in various types of towed and soaring flight, both day and night, and in servicing of gliders in the field.

In 1944 with the reduced demand for pilots, the Army ended the flying training, and Domestic Transport Division of Air Transport Command used the airport as a transport airfield. Air Transport Command moved operations to Brookley Field (later Brookley Air Force Base) near downtown Mobile in late 1945.

U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard activity

The U.S. Air Force returned to Bates Field in May 1959 when the Air Force Reserve activated the 78th Troop Carrier Squadron at the airport with Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar aircraft. In 1961, the Air Force moved this squadron to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana as a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II heavy-lift squadron. The 357th Troop Carrier Squadron then replaced it and acquired the C-119s. The Air Force subsequently upgraded Bates to a Group level upon organizing the 908th Troop Carrier Group, Medium in 1963. However, the Air Force then moved the reservists to the larger Brookley Air Force Base located near downtown Mobile in October 1964 due to budget restraints.

In 1966 the U.S. Coast Guard acquired the vacant U.S. Air Force Reserve facility on the airfield. On December 17, 1966, the Coast Guard officially commissioned an Air Station in Mobile with Grumman HU-16 Albatross fixed wing aircraft from the Coast Guard's Air Station in nearby Biloxi. The Coast Guard also established a fixed wing and helicopter training facility at the airport. U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Mobile serves as an Aviation Training Center with a designated headquarters unit that is under the direct control of the Commandant of the Coast Guard.

Past airline service

Eastern Airlines was first at Mobile, at the airport south of town until about 1941 when it and National moved to the present airport. In the 1960s Eastern Airlines flew Lockheed L-188 Electras to Mobile, then Boeing 727-100s and Douglas DC-9s mainly to Atlanta. Eastern served Mobile until its demise in 1991.

National Airlines Jacksonville-New Orleans flights stopped at the airport south of Mobile starting about 1939. National Lockheed L-188 Electras appeared in 1962–63; later their Boeing 727-200s flew nonstop to New Orleans and Houston. After its acquisition of National, Pan Am 727s served the airport until 1981.

Capital Airlines began Mobile flights in 1948; United Airlines acquired Capital in 1961 and served Mobile with Douglas DC-6Bs and Capital's Vickers Viscounts. Mobile's first jets were United Sud Aviation Caravelles to Newark via Birmingham in April 1962. United ended mainline service to Mobile in 1971, but United Express regional jets still serve the airport.

Southern Airways arrived at Mobile in 1950–51; in the 1970s Southern flew nonstop Douglas DC-9s to Atlanta and New Orleans. Southern merged with North Central Airlines to form Republic Airlines which was acquired by Northwest Airlines which continued at Mobile with DC-9s to the Northwest hub in Memphis. Northwest eventually merged into Delta Air Lines.

Starting in 1981 American Airlines Boeing 727-200s flew to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport via Jackson, MS or New Orleans, LA. American also flew to its hub in Nashville from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s before the airline closed that hub.

USAir (later US Airways and now merged into American Airlines) flew nonstop to Charlotte, NC in the mid 1990s with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s and Fokker 100s.

Texas International arrived in 1979; successor Continental Airlines flew Boeing 737-200s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s nonstop to Houston Intercontinental Airport in the late 1990s. Continental has since merged into United Airlines.

The MC Farmer Terminal was completed in 1985.

The 21st century

United Airlines via United Express served Mobile from its hubs in Chicago (ORD) and Washington D.C. (IAD). After the September 11, 2001 attacks, United canceled all service at Mobile. United Express reinstated nonstop service to Houston (IAH) and Chicago (ORD) after United’s merger with Continental Airlines. On September 5, 2018, United stopped flights to Chicago (ORD), citing low demand.