Columbia Regional Airport — Columbia, United States

Located south of town on the way toward Jefferson City, COU serves Columbia, Missouri, home to the flagship University of Missouri campus and a steady stream of academic, athletic, and government-related travel that a college town of its size might not otherwise generate. The airport relocated to its present site decades ago, and its modest terminal has depended at various points on federal support programs to maintain connections with larger hub airports in Chicago, Dallas, and Denver. Missouri's state capital, Jefferson City, lacks a comparable commercial airport of its own, pushing a portion of state-government and lobbyist travel toward Columbia's runway instead. Weather-related diversions and the college calendar's rhythms, including football weekends that fill nearby hotels, both noticeably influence the airport's passenger traffic patterns throughout the year.