Ponca City Regional Airport is a city-owned airport two miles northwest of Ponca City, in Kay County, Oklahoma. Enrique's is a well known Mexican restaurant in the terminal.Scheduled passenger flights on Great Lakes Airlines to Denver and Dodge City ended in August, 2006. The service was subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.HistoryThe airport opened in November 1938 with a single 3600ft concrete runway. The United States Army Air Forces took over the facility in the summer of 1941 and used it as part of the British Flying Training School Program. This training was part of the Lend-Lease act where Royal Air Force flying cadets received a 20-week basic flying course taught by civil contractors. The Darr School of Aeronautics provided flight training. Fairchild PT-19s were the primary trainer at the airfield, but PT-17 Stearmans and P-40 Warhawks were also assigned to training.In November 1942, Royal Air Force training ended at Miami and the airfield became a primary (stage 1) pilot training airfield assigned to AAF Flying Training Command, Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command). The civil instructors were retained under USAAF control by the 323d Flying Training Detachment.
