Our History

Pryor Field Regional Airport is a public airport located three miles northeast of the central business district of Decatur and south of Athens, in Limestone County, Alabama. It is owned by the Decatur/Athens Airport Authority.  Situated next to Calhoun Community College, the airport serves the western portion of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area and most of the Decatur Metropolitan Area. According to the FAA Airport Master Record, effective July 5, 2007, Pryor Field was the busiest regional airport in Alabama.  Prior Field Regional Airport covers an area of 200 acres which contains one asphalt paved runway measuring 6,107 x 100 ft.

It is one of a few WWII Army Air Forces Training Centers (AAFTC) facilities that have remained in continued use since 1941.  The Decatur AAFTC represents a significant contribution to winning the WWII War effort by providing primary flight training for Army Air Force Pilots.  Many of these pilots went on to distinguish themselves in combat and later as outstanding citizens and leaders.  The Decatur AAFTC was under contract to Southern Airways, Inc. and Southern Aviation Training School, Inc. and assigned to the Central Flying Training Command. The Decatur AAFTC received numerous awards and recognition from the Army for the high quality pilots produced and overall efficiency of the facility.  The facility was inactivated on December 28 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC pilot training program. It was declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on September 1945 and eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration and became a civil airport.  The facility was then used to convert surplus Army aircraft for commercial airline use for the Southern Airways Company.  The Southern Airways Company began growing its routes in 1949 throughout the Southeast and later became part of Delta Airlines, Atlanta.