Budde Airport

The closure was a result of economic factors and land redevelopment. As the Mankato area expanded, the land became more valuable for commercial development than for use as a private airfield. The property was sold and redeveloped for industrial use.

The site of the former Budde Airport has been completely redeveloped and is unrecognizable as an airfield. The land is now occupied by a large FedEx Ship Center and its associated parking lots and infrastructure, located at 2000 Bassett Drive, Mankato, MN. There are no remaining traces of the runway, hangars, or any other aviation-related structures.

Budde Airport, also known as Budde Field, was a private general aviation airfield that served the local community for several decades. First appearing on aeronautical charts in 1960, it was operated by Roman Budde. The airport consisted of a single unpaved turf runway (Runway 17/35) measuring approximately 2,200 feet. It catered to private pilots and small aircraft, representing a typical mid-20th-century private grass strip that supported recreational flying and personal air transport before the land was repurposed.

There are zero prospects for reopening Budde Airport. The site has been permanently and completely repurposed for large-scale commercial and industrial use, making any return to aviation operations impossible.