If you’ve lived around Centennial for a while, you might think of the Centennial Airport as “the airport celebrities fly into.” Maybe even “that place with the Perfect Landing restaurant.” But exploring deeper, you’d learn that around 17 lifesaving flights fly out of the airport every day, and that’s just the beginning of the vital work they do.
In 1968, the Arapahoe County Airport was born. By 1984, the airport was already buzzing with life, so much so that it warranted a celebratory name change. That’s how “Centennial Airport” came to be.
If you’re a retail employee, a restaurant owner, or someone working anywhere travelers spend money, the airport is part of bringing customers through your doors. More than 9,200 jobs are connected to the airport, even if many people don’t realize it.
Centennial Airport is home to seven different flight schools, and their team is passionate about making aviation accessible. Nearly half of the airport’s operations involve flight training, so there’s always someone navigating maneuvers or completing coursework. Take Mike Fronapfel, the Airport's CEO. He started 28 years ago through their internship program, just like many of their full-time staff. The airport awards scholarships through the Centennial Airport Foundation, a nonprofit for students looking to pursue careers as pilots, mechanics, and aviation professionals. For the past three years, the airport has hosted an annual 5K fundraiser that raised over $85,000 for the foundation in 2025 alone, with increasing donations each year. From their rows of trainer aircraft to their fundraising work, it’s clear who’s building the future of aeronautics.
Another unseen but vital component of the airport is the workers. During an emergency flight, runways must be clear. One team loads critical medical supplies into a helicopter as the maintenance team works around the clock to keep at least one runway open. Working against Colorado’s unpredictable weather, their massive snow-removal vehicles blow, brush, and plow, so patients can receive urgent medical attention. Centennial Airport knows that every second matters.
Most Colorado citizens are familiar with DIA, but our Centennial Airport plays a significant supporting role for them. It flies out to double DIA’s total destinations and exists to take pressure off DIA. It’s called a “reliever airport,” and it lives up to the name. Centennial Airport handles non-commercial flights, so DIA can partner with the major airlines.
So whether you’re eating at Perfect Landing, pulling up to the Wings Over the Rockies museum, or watching a plane fly over Arapahoe Road, remember there’s much more happening beyond what we see.
On that runway, someone is being flown to the hospital. Someone is wheeling a patient onto a plane or logging hours to launch a career. Every day. Centennial Airport’s commitment to community never stops, and most of us don’t take a second glance.
Around 17 lifesaving flights fly out of the Airport every day, and that’s just the beginning of the vital work they do