School may be starting, but students aren’t the only ones who can learn something new. Rochester International Airport has nearly a century of history filled with famous visitors, surprising milestones and even a little fine dining.
Sharpen your pencils. Here are five RST facts worth knowing.
An image of the airport terminal from 1945.
1. RST picked up and moved.
The Rochester airport you know today isn’t where the story began. Rochester’s original airport—founded by the Mayo brothers in 1928 on 285 acres—was located in southeast Rochester, but by 1960, passenger traffic had grown to about 75,000 travelers a year and larger aircraft required more room.
The solution? Move the airport.
Operations relocated eight miles south to a new 2,400-acre site, the home of today’s Rochester International Airport.
Air Force II at RST in 2012.
2. Air Force One (and Two) have been repeat visitors.
RST has welcomed some pretty impressive aircraft over the years, including Air Force One and Two. Air Force One and Two have landed at Rochester’s airport at least seven times, carrying five different presidents: Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.
Presidential visits have ranged from campaign stops to rallies, with the airport itself sometimes serving as the event venue. When President George W. Bush spoke at RST in 2004, he even referenced Air Force One sitting outside on the runway.
3. You once could go to the airport for a fancy dinner—even if you weren’t flying.
In the 1960s and beyond, RST wasn’t just a place to catch a plane. It was also a dining destination.
The airport’s Skyways Restaurant included the upscale Chanticleer Room, remembered by Rochester residents as a special-occasion restaurant. People came to the airport for dinner whether or not they had a boarding pass, and at least one Rochester resident recalled proposing to his future wife there.
Dinner and a view of the runway? Sounds like date night, 1960s style.
Council President Staver, Senator Klobuchar, and Executive Director Reed deliver remarks during a 2017 ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating RST’s US Customs facility update.
4. RST became “International” in 1995.
For decades, today’s Rochester International Airport was known as Rochester Municipal Airport.
That changed in 1995 when a U.S. Customs facility was added at the airport. With the ability to accommodate international arrivals and customs processing, Rochester Municipal Airport officially became Rochester International Airport.
So while Rochester has had an airport since 1928, it has been Rochester International Airport for just over 30 years.
5. RST has its own theme song.
How many airports can say they have their own theme song? RST can. In 2026, RST debuted The Flocal Song, an original song written and performed by Kasson native and The Voice contestant Cori Kennedy. The catchy tune puts music behind RST’s Flocal message: travel global, keep it local.
The song made its live debut in front of more than 1,200 people at RST’s first-ever Parking Lot Party in June 2026.
Learn more about the history of Rochester International Airport here.
