Rickenbacker International Airport Guide

Rickenbacker International Airport sits about 10 miles south of downtown Columbus, Ohio, with its southern end reaching into Pickaway County. It began as Lockbourne Army Air Base in June 1942, a glider and B-17 training field. The base became Lockbourne Air Force Base under Strategic Air Command in 1951 and took the name Rickenbacker in 1974, after Columbus native Eddie Rickenbacker.

The Air Force left in 1980, and the field became Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. The Ohio Air National Guard's 121st Air Refueling Wing still flies from it. The Rickenbacker Port Authority took over civil operations, and the Columbus Regional Airport Authority has run the airport since the 2003 merger. In 2022 the airport recorded 24,168 aircraft operations, with roughly half of them commercial.

Passenger flights started on July 12, 2003, when the passenger terminal opened with a Southeast Airlines charter to Las Vegas. Allegiant Air began scheduled nonstop service in 2012 and is the only scheduled passenger airline. It flies to leisure destinations in Florida and elsewhere, and added Key West in May 2026. Freight is the larger business. FedEx Express, Korean Air Cargo and Cargolux operate cargo flights, and a Norfolk Southern intermodal terminal opened beside the field in 2008.