Conway Regional Airport

Opened in 2014, the Conway Regional Airport at Cantrell Field (CRA) is a growing city-owned general aviation airport. It is located in the Lollie Bottoms area of southwestern Conway (Faulkner County). CRA, which was named Arkansas’s Airport of the Year in 2015, is served by a 5,500-foot runway with a parallel taxiway and provides aircraft fueling, service, and hangaring. The terminal houses a classroom, a conference room, and a twenty-four-hour accessible pilots’ lounge equipped with showers, a sleeping area, vending machines, and internet access. In 2022, CRA’s takeoffs and landings totaled 15,061, representing a forty percent increase from 2021.

CRA replaced the original Conway Municipal Airport, a small facility that was located on Sixth Street near the city’s downtown. The original airport, which closed in 2015, was established in 1928, when a small group of aviation enthusiasts formed the Conway Airways Corporation (CAC) for that purpose. Lieutenant Joe T. Shumate of the Army Air Corps (a predecessor of the United States Air Force) served as president of the CAC and as a secretary to Colonel Heber L. McAlister, who was an instructor at what is now the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in Conway. In the late nineteenth century, the brothers John and William Ingram, who were uncles of Governor George Washington Donaghey, owned the land that became the new airfield. In April 1928, CAC members, McAlister, officers of the Arkansas National Guard, and others dedicated Conway’s new airfield. Shumate piloted the CAC’s newly ordered American Eagle biplane to the dedication.

In 1931, the Conway airport was improved and rededicated with an airshow and a speech from Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley. That same year, the entertainer Will Rogers landed briefly at the airport during his speaking tour on behalf of the American Red Cross.

Between 1938 and 1942, the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) trained male and female pilots at educational institutions before transitioning into the War Training Service (WTS) to train men for military aviation. Both programs utilized fixed-base operator (FBO) airports, which provided aircraft fueling, hangaring, repair, and flight training.

In 1939, Kenneth N. Starnes left the Little Rock Airport (now the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport) and established Starnes Aviation Service (SAS) to manage the Conway airport as an FBO. Between 1939 and 1944, SAS trained more than 2,000 pilots, including army and navy cadets, under the CPTP and the WTS. Hendrix College and UCA conducted the pilots’ ground school courses.

The airport takes its present name from Dennis F. Cantrell, an airplane mechanic and a pilot who joined SAS in 1940. A native of Greenbrier (Faulkner County), Cantrell had earned a degree in physics from UCA in 1930. Following Starnes’s departure in 1947, Cantrell managed Cantrell’s Aero Service (CAS). Between 1947 and 1952, CAS offered aviation training to World War II veterans under the GI Bill. In 1978, eight years before Cantrell’s retirement in 1986, the city named the airport Dennis F. Cantrell Field in his honor.

In 1951, an unexplained storage hangar fire at CAS caused $60,000 in damages, including the loss of eighteen airplanes. In 1952, the state dismissed charges of arson against Donald H. Moore, who was a former CAS employee.

In the 1970s, the city government of Conway decided against relocating the airport. In the mid-1990s, needed improvements and safety concerns renewed the city’s interest in moving the airport. Receipt of federal funds for improvements required a runway extension, which was not possible in the existing location.

By the 1990s, Cantrell Field’s close proximity to Interstate 40 and private residences posed serious safety risks. In 1990, a plane crash destroyed a nearby home, killed the co-pilot, and seriously injured three passengers, one of whom later died. In 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved moving the airport to Lollie Bottoms after another plane crash killed the pilot and a woman inside her nearby home. The former airport site was originally to be developed as the Central Landing Shopping Center, but in 2017 the real estate developer in charge of those plans canceled the project. The site later became home to the Fountaine Bleau Central Landing apartments, completed in 2021.

In 2023, CRA, UCA, the City of Conway, and Central Flying Service of Little Rock (Pulaski County) partnered to establish the UCA Aviation Academy. Begun in March 2024, the CRA-based academy is a certified private, instrument rating, and commercial pilot training program. Enrollees must be aged seventeen or older and are not required to be university students.

For additional information:
“$60,000 Loss in Conway Hangar Fire.” Arkansas Democrat, October 17, 1951, p. 1.

“Arson Charge is Dismissed.” Arkansas Gazette, December 3, 1952, p. 1B.

“Centralized Conway Offers Accessible Air Travel.” Arkansas Business, May 22, 2023. https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/centralized-conway-offers-accessible-air-travel/ (accessed July 17, 2024).

“Conway Airport.” https://conwayarkansas.gov/airport (accessed July 17, 2024).

“Conway Gets New 65-Acre Airport.” Arkansas Gazette, April 12, 1928, p. 7.

“Conway Airport Is Formally Opened.” Arkansas Gazette, May 1, 1928, p. 2.

“Conway Airport Opened Formally.” Arkansas Gazette, May 3, 1931, p. 13.

Frazer, Jim. “Aviation Legend Remembered.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 18, 2002, pp. 1R, 12R.

George, Emmett. “1 Dead in Conway Plane Crash.” Arkansas Gazette, September 13, 1990, pp. 1A, 8A.

Hale-Shelton, Debra, Noel E. Oman, and Kristin Netterstrom. “2 Die as Plane Hits House in Conway.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 1, 2007, pp. 1A, 17A.

Hale-Shelton, Debra. “New Conway Airport Site Clears Key FAA Step.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 18, 2007, p. 1B.

Hoyt, Robert D., Alphonse M. Hiegel, Stuart T. Hoyt, and Harrell E. Clendenin. A History of Aviation in Conway, Arkansas, 1917–2010: A Compilation of Events and Memories. Bowling Green, KY: Pip Printing, 2010.

Keith, Tammy. “Conway Facility Named Arkansas Airport of the Year.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 11, 2015, p. 9V.

Meisel, Jay. “Move May Be in Wings.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 8, 1996, p. 1B.

Owens, Noel, Brandon Riddle, and David Smith. “Developer Backs Out of Conway Project.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 9, 2017, p. 2D.

Roberts, Jeannie. “Conway Regional Airport Undergoes Upgrades.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 10, 2022, pp. 1B, 3B. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/jan/10/conway-airport-finishes-first-construction/ (accessed July 17, 2024).

Smith, David, and Noel Oman. “Luxury Apartments in Works for Conway.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, June 30, 2018, p. 1D.

UCA Aviation Academy. https://uca.edu/aviation/about/ (accessed July 17, 2024).

“UCA, City Partner on Flight Training Program.” Arkansas Business, November 15, 2023. https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/uca-city-partner-on-flight-training-program/ (accessed July 17, 2024).

Melanie K. Welch
Mayflower, Arkansas