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During World War II, Charleston's airport at that time, Wertz Field , closed when the airport's approaches were blocked once the federal government built a synthetic rubber plant next to the airport. This left the city without an airport. However, there were plans before the war to build a new Charleston airport; Wertz Field was already becoming commercially obsolete.

The city started construction of its new airport in 1944; the facility opened in 1947 as Kanawha Airport. The airport received its current name in 1985, honoring Chuck Yeager, a native of nearby Lincoln County who piloted the first supersonic flight.

First-time passengers who watch their planes approach the airport may feel uneasy; the airport sits on a hilltop over 300 feet above the valleys of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers, and the hill drops off sharply on all sides. Some pilots who regularly fly into the airport liken landing at Yeager to landing on an aircraft carrier, even keeping in mind the fact that aircraft carriers move with the seas while Yeager is stationary.

The airport's construction was one of the most remarkable engineering accomplishments of the 1940s. The original topography of the area where Yeager Airport now stands consisted of three hilltops on a ridge overlooking the Elk River. In order to create enough flat land for an airport, it was necessary to shear off the tops of all three hills, and use the spoil to fill in the valleys in between. At that time, the construction of Kanawha Airport was reportedly the second-largest earth-moving project in history, behind the construction of the Panama Canal.

The following airlines fly to Yeager Airport:

• Air Wisconsin dba United Express
• Atlantic Coast Airlines dba Delta Connection
• Atlantic Southeast AirlinesAtlantic Southeast Airlines or ASA for short, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, and offers more than 800 flights each day from its hubs at Atlanta, Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport. dba Delta Connection
• ComairComair is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines and is flying a fleet made up of the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet 100 and the Canadair Regional Jet 700. Its IATA code is OH. It is based in Erlanger, Kentucky, a city close to the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky dba Delta Connection
• Continental ExpressContinental Express is the operating name of Expressjet for Continental Airlines. Expressjet is no longer a wholly owned subsidy of Continental Airlines, and they operate an all regional jet fleet. Continental Express used to fly turbo-props, however Cont
• Independence AirIndependence Air is a low-cost air carrier with its major hub being Dulles International Airport of Washington DC. Since inception, it has made Dulles the largest low-cost hub in the United States. Independence Air is largely an eastern regional carrier c
• Mesa AirlinesMesa Airlines is a US airline headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona which operates flights as Air Midwest, America West Express, Frontier JetExpress, United Airlines Express and US Airways Express. It also operates flights under its own name for flights origi dba US Airways ExpressUS Airways Express is a brand name used by several airlines owned by US Airways which provide feederliner service from major US Airways destinations. Mesa Airlines, Air Midwest, PSA Airlines, Chautauqua Airlines, Colgan Air, MidAtlantic Airways, Trans Sta
• Mesaba AirlinesMesaba Airlines ( IATA call code XJ) operates under the name Northwest Airlink for Northwest Airlines. It operates the Avro Avroliner RJ and the Saab SF 340 from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport which is located between Minneapolis, Minnesota dba Northwest Airlink
• Piedmont Airlines dba US Airways Express
• PSA Airlines dba US Airways Express
• Shuttle America dba United Express