A long list of celebrities have walked the runways of Killeen Regional Airport.
Former President Bill Clinton was at the airport along with numerous other politicians. The list includes former Governor Rick Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, former Secretary of State James Baker III, former Senator John McCain and others.
Mike Wilson, general manager of the city’s airport, said he has witnessed every gubernatorial election since 1980 in his decades at Killeen and Brownwood airports.
Many politicians have come to the area to campaign. For example, Bill Clinton traveled through the airport when he was campaigning for his wife Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy in 2016. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin also traveled there in 2008 when she was campaigning for John McCain’s presidential candidacy.
Others made trips to Fort Cavazos, where many celebrities come to support the troops.
Sports stars such as Daryl Strawberry, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith have all paid a visit. Actors Gary Sinise and Matthew McConaughey have visited the local airport along with televangelist Joel Osteen. Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has also paid a visit on his way to Fort Cavazos.
The airport has not only hosted people who started out on the big screen, but have also found their way onto television. Earlier this year, parts of the filming of HBO’s “Love & Death” were shot at the airport.
This led to a redesign of the airport. Wilson said they worked for nearly two weeks beforehand to make it look like a replica of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in the 1970s. Certain Killeen signs were changed to read Dallas-Fort Worth, and above the ticket counter was written “Braniff International,” a legacy airline that ceased operations in 1982. Filming of this series brought other famous actors to Killeen, including Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons.
Other filming at the airport includes Lifetime’s “Coming Home,” a show about soldiers reuniting with their families, and a Chevrolet commercial that was filmed right outside the building.
Wilson said that “almost every airport has some” celebrity visits, but Killeen was bolstered by Fort Cavazos’ presence. They had so many celebrity visits that a wall in one of the airport’s back rooms – where passengers arrive from private jets – was dedicated to displaying all of the photos of the various celebs who were there.
