"One of the few airline-owned airports in the nation, the Cornell-Robinson field in the Town of Lansing is now in operation. It will meet all federal requirements for Robinson Airlines operation under a Civil Aeronautics Board certificate.
The field went into service for the first time at 5:30 p.m. Sunday when Flight 6 from Buffalo to Ithaca, Triple Cities and New York, landed on schedule before several hundred spectators.
The plane carried three passengers bound from Buffalo to Triple Cities.... A nine-place Beechcraft D-18S, the transport was flown in over Cayuga Lake to a landing by Capt. John Ganley and First Officer Donald Washburn.
C. S. Robinson, president of the airlines corporation, and the spectators noted that the plane used less than half the runway, the northwest-southwest strip, for the landing. Robinson greeted the passengers from Buffalo and he also welcomed the four local passengers who boarded the flight after brief ceremonies....
Three landings took place later in the evening. A Beechcraft came in from the late round-trip to Albany and two of the Robinson 21-passenger transports arrived from New York, one of them being an extra section. The final landing took place at 7:40 p.m. The big DC-3s, like the Beechcraft, used less than half of the runway for the landing.
Constructed by Robinson Airlines Corporation with the co-operation of Cornell University, the airport has two 3,800-foot runways, and a taxi strip to the new hangar and office quarters and the highway.
These facilities will be used for night landings until the Robinson organization can complete the extensive task of moving all operations to the new field. Arrangements are being made to accomplish this without any interruption or delay in flight service.
First use of the field for airline passenger service marks another milestone in the history of Robinson Airlines and airline service for this area. The present service has developed from the efforts of Robinson and other local men to obtain airline service here.
An established line refused several years ago to serve Ithaca with the result that Robinson operation was begun nearly 3 years ago. Since then, the company has expanded steadily, passengers are being carried at the rate of 30,000 annually, a perfect operational record has been maintained and 5,000,000 passenger miles soon will be completed."