Then and now: Airport grows, flights decline

Lake Tahoe Airport in 1963. Photo/Dave Borges

Lake Tahoe Airport today. Photo/Bill Kingman

Lake Tahoe Airport is a public airport also known as Tahoe Valley Airport (TVL).

The 1963 photo of TVL (courtesy of Dave Borges) shows a Lockheed L-049 Constellation propliner used by Paradise Airlines which served Salinas, San Jose, Oakland and Lake Tahoe until a fatal accident on Genoa Peak in 1964.

Nineteen different carriers — small, medium, large — have served TVL since 1963.

The airport has been without a scheduled commercial airline passenger service since 2000. The baggage conveyor and carousel have been removed. The FAA control tower is closed.

However, a fixed-base operator has continued to serve general aviation at TVL. The airport terminal building in my 2013 photo currently houses the city offices of South Lake Tahoe plus a restaurant and few other businesses.

— Bill Kingman