Mental Floss

The World's First Airport Is Up For Sale—at a (Relative) Discount

Shaunacy Ferro
Owl’s Flight via Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Owl’s Flight via Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 /

Owl’s Flight via Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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The world’s first airport is up for sale—and at a discount, the Associated Press reports.

Atlantic City’s Bader Field, a 143-acre plot that served as a municipal airport, closed in 2006. First licensed as a passenger airport in 1911, it inspired the term “airport,” coined by a reporter referencing the field in a 1919 article.

However, it hasn’t seen a lot of use in the last few decades. Allegheny Airlines, the last big commercial airline to use it, moved its regional flights to the Atlantic City International Airport in 1978, and the control tower was boarded up in 1989. In 2008, the city put it up for sale, hoping to get at least $1.5 billion.

The airport is now back on the market again, with a major price cut. The minimum bid will now be $150 million, according to the Associated Press. City officials are hoping that the barren airfield can be converted into something that sees more active use, like a retail, dining, and residential center.

[h/t Associated Press]

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