Qualla: Columbia Metropolitan Airport

Columbia Metropolitan Airport: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Khanrak, CC BY-SA 3.0. The runway centerline that 737s touch down on at KCAE was first poured for B-25 Mitchells. Columbia Metropolitan Airport - airline code CAE, ICAO KCAE - was Columbia Army Air Base from 1941 to 1945, and the bones of the wartime field still shape the modern airport's geometry: two concrete runways laid down for medium bombers, the same broad parking apron now hosting UPS feeder freighters, the same orientation chosen to put approaches into prevailing southwest winds. The plywood barracks are long gone. The runways stayed.

Image: Khanrak | CC BY-SA 3.0

Columbia Metropolitan Airport: After Inactivation

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Akhenaton06, CC BY-SA 3.0. When the Army handed the field back to civil authority in November 1945, the Midlands needed an airport and the field was already built. The wartime 350th Bombardment Squadron technically existed there from 1947 to 1949 as part of the Air Force Reserve, but it was never equipped ...

Image: Akhenaton06 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Columbia Metropolitan Airport: The UPS Hub

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hunter Desportes, Public domain. In August 1996, UPS Airlines opened an $80 million southeastern regional hub at Columbia, one of six US regional hubs the company built to extend its next-day, second-day, and third-day air service network. The hub buildings cover 352,000 square feet. The 44-acre ramp can hold 22...

Image: Hunter Desportes | Public domain

Columbia Metropolitan Airport: Passengers and Routes

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MoodyGroove of English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Four scheduled passenger airlines serve CAE today. American Airlines restored mainline service in June 2018 with two daily nonstop flights to Dallas/Fort Worth, with Miami added by the end of 2019. United is scheduled to resume Newark service in January 2026. Allegiant added flig...

Image: MoodyGroove of English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Columbia Metropolitan Airport: What Has Gone Wrong

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dima Sergiyenko; Please attribute this image as the work of "DiscoverWithDima.", CC BY-SA 4.0. The airport's history of accidents is shorter than its history of safe operations, but it is part of the record. On February 26, 1971, a Volpar 18 crashed during a missed approach in fog, killing the pilot and seven passengers - the worst accident in the field's history. On Decem...

Image: Dima Sergiyenko; Please attribute this image as the work of "DiscoverWithDima." | CC BY-SA 4.0