Onslow County owns the airport and the county manages it. The field carries the name of Albert J. Ellis, a longtime Onslow County booster and political figure who pushed for civilian air service in a county whose aviation footprint was dominated by Marine Corps assets. KOAJ sits in Richlands, in the agricultural northwestern corner of the county, away from the military restricted airspace that complicates flying anywhere near Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River. The airport's single runway runs roughly northeast-southwest and is being extended to handle larger regional jets. The LED lighting and signage upgrade in 2018 and 2019 brought the field into the modern era of low-maintenance airfield electronics. A new air traffic control tower opened in late 2017.

Camp Lejeune is the largest Marine Corps installation east of the Mississippi, home to 43,000 Marines and sailors plus their families. MCAS New River, a few miles east, generates its own steady flow of aviation personnel. The Marines themselves use military airlift when they deploy, but their families do not. A spouse flying to a wedding in Ohio, a teenager flying to college in Texas, a Marine on emergency leave heading to a parent's hospital bed in Florida; all of them tend to leave from Richlands. American Eagle and a second commercial carrier serve the field, with daily connections funneling through Charlotte. Passenger traffic has climbed steadily as the base population has grown.

Onslow County has plans for KOAJ. A $29 million runway extension to the northeast broke ground in April 2026, adding 900 feet to bring the total runway length to 8,000 feet and opening the field to larger regional jets. Other projects through 2027 will rehabilitate and expand airfield pavements, modernize taxiways, and improve general aviation parking. The growth reflects the larger demographic shift in Onslow County, where population has tripled in the decades since Camp Lejeune was established and continues to climb. Albert J. Ellis is not Charlotte Douglas. It will not become Charlotte Douglas. But it is bigger now than it was a decade ago, and it will be bigger again in a decade.

Richlands itself is a small town of about 1,500 people, surrounded by pine forest and farmland. The airport sits on flat land typical of the North Carolina coastal plain: easy to fly into, easy to expand. The nearest civilian alternates are Kinston Regional Jetport to the northwest and Wilmington International to the south. Both are bigger and offer more commercial connections, but neither saves a Camp Lejeune family any time. KOAJ is the local airport in a county where most things are designed around the gate to Camp Lejeune. That includes the airport.

Albert J. Ellis Airport (KOAJ) sits at 34.83 degrees north, 77.61 degrees west, with field elevation about 94 feet. View from 1,500 to 2,500 feet AGL to see the runway, the surrounding farmland, and the distant edge of Camp Lejeune's restricted airspace to the southeast. The field is Class D when the tower is operating. Civilian alternates include Kinston Regional Jetport (KISO) twenty nautical miles northwest and Wilmington International (KILM) thirty-eight nautical miles southwest. MCAS New River (KNCA) and Camp Lejeune (KNJM) are nearby but heavily restricted.