Respiratory virus poses a serious threat to human life and health. Airway epithelial cells are the body's first line of defense from a wide variety of foreign pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria. Therefore, successful airway epithelial cell culture can provide a model for investigating the mechanisms underlying respiratory pathogenic diseases following airway virus infection. This respiratory disease model can also be used for the potential development of novel therapeutics. Here we provide a brief review of recent developments on the culture of cells derived from human trachea-bronchial airway epithelium, and the application of this model for studying respiratory virus and disease.