the united states army air forces closed the facility in september 1946, and it was turned over to the war assets administration for disposal. it slowly was returned to whatcom county and was redeveloped as a civil airport in the late 1940s. with the rising costs and need for repairs, whatcom county sold the airport to the port of bellingham for one dollar in 1957. because of costs, the port of bellingham could only resurface the longest of the runways (16/34). 16/34 is still the only runway used as it provides adequate year-round wind coverage for aircraft servicing bellingham. the two diagonal runways have fallen into disrepair, their easternmost ends used as taxiways between tarmacs and the sole remaining runway.