Manhattan Regional Airport in Riley County, Kansas, United States, is the second-busiest commercial airport in Kansas. It is owned by the city of Manhattan, Kansas, and is about five miles southwest of downtown Manhattan. American Airlines serves the airport with five daily flights to Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The airport is also used for general aviation and for planes chartered by the military and college sports teams (the airport is four miles east of Fort Riley and eight miles southwest of Kansas State University's athletic complex). The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2013–2017 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year). Traffic at the airport multiplied after American Eagle began its service in August 2009. Between 2008 and 2012, Federal Aviation Administration records show that annual passenger boardings (enplanements) at the airport grew from 16,489 to more than 69,000. The most recent statistics show 70,705 enplanements in 2018. History On June 13, 1939, construction began with the planting of temporary grass runways. The facility was dedicated in November 1940. The first "Manhattan Municipal Airport" terminal was dedicated on April 19, 1953, with U.S. Senator Frank Carlson giving a speech. Continental Airlines DC-3 flights began that month. Since the 1950s a number of airlines have served Manhattan Regional Airport. In 1979, the southwest end of runway 3-21 was extended 1,500 ft. and the entire runway was widened 50 ft., which allowed new Boeing 737 service operated by Frontier Airlines. The original runway has 13 inches of concrete from 1963 with additional concrete from 1979 at the southwest end and widened areas. Only a 660 ft area for runway safety area is built at the departure end of runway 21 due to the location of a localizer antenna compared to the compliant 1000 ft area at the end of runway 3. Therefore, runway 21 has a landing length of 7,000 versus 6660 ft on takeoffs and landings from runway 3. The current airline terminal opened in two phases between 2015 and 2016, replacing the 1997 terminal. The $18 million project has three jet bridge parking positions from two gates, and can accommodate aircraft as large as the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. The new terminal has more space for ticketing, baggage claim, car rental, and security screening. There is space for a restaurant, but as of August 2017 a