CORPUS CHRISTI
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT


A west-facing view across the CRP ramp in the 1960s. The terminal is in the background, with the control tower and administration block in the foreground.

Corpus Christi completed its multi-million dollar international airport in 1960 - a two-runway facility designed to bring the city into the jet age. Although none of the three airlines serving Corpus Christi (Braniff, Texas International and Eastern) had scheduled jets into CRP, the airfield was well-suited to handle the fast new aircraft.

The terminal itself was a simple one-level design with ticketing on the west end and baggage claim on the east side. Passengers passed through a central lobby and coffee shop area to a covered outdoor boarding arcade punctuated by gates to the apron. The control tower and administration building was located at the east end of the facility, adjacent to the general aviation gate.


Close-up and long views of the CRP terminal area in the early 1970s. A jetbridge has been installed at one of the airlines' gates, most likely Braniff's.

The airline lineup at CRP did not change through the 1960s and 1970s - Braniff, TI and Eastern. After Deregulation, a number of changes occurred - Southwest Airlines began service in 1978, Texas International merged with Continental in 1981 and Braniff shut down in 1982. Later in the decade, American Eagle and Delta Connection joined the lineup with commuter service to their Dallas/Fort Worth hubs.

To cope with the increase in operations, enclosed holdrooms and jetways were added at each of the gates. The baggage claim area was also modified to include carousels, replacing the shelf system that had been in use since 1960.


A satellite view of the old CRP in 1999.

The airport's master plan, updated in the early 1990s, called for the construction of a completely new terminal on the site of the existing facility. Ground was broken for the new 165,000-square-foot Hayden W. Head Terminal on March 31, 2000. The new complex was built in stages, allowing the 1960 terminal to remain open while the new terminal went up around it. A temporary baggage claim hall and security checkpoint were built, routing passengers around the terminal construction site.


A diagram of the old CRP complex in late 2000, showing the temporary baggage claim area and security checkpoint.

The first phase of the Hayden W. Head Terminal - a new ticketing and baggage claim building - was opened November 3, 2002. The old gates along the covered arcade were in service until the summer of 2003, when the new two-level passenger concourse was completed. The rest of the 1960 terminal was demolished shortly thereafter.

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