04/24/2017

April 24, 2017 — The first quarter of 2017 proved to be strong and historic for CVG, with continued passenger growth and major announcements.

Total enplanements were up 11.1 percent year-over-year and local passengers were up 15.9 percent. CVG set a new first quarter cargo tonnage record with more than 205,000 tons handled, totaling a year-over-year increase of 8 percent.

The biggest economic development deal in the region was signed between the airport and Amazon to build its global air cargo hub at CVG. The $1.5 billion investment will support a fleet of 100+ Prime Air cargo planes. Other details of the deal include:

• More than 900 acres of CVG land leased for 50+ years
• Construction of a three million square foot sort facility and accessory buildings
• Add more than 2,700 jobs to CVG’s existing base of 10,000

Southwest-CVG announcement group photoThe expected activity and landed weight of Amazon’s operations will enable CVG to continue lowering its landing fees, benefiting all carriers while ensuring CVG remains a great place to do business.

Southwest Airlines announced that it will start service June 4th by offering 55 weekly flights with service to Baltimore/Washington (3x a day) and Chicago Midway (5x a day). Two gates in Concourse A are currently being refurbished for the inaugural flights. South west becomes the 10th passenger carrier at CVG, which now provides nonstop service to 55 destinations with 175 peak-day departures.

Southwest jet bridge installationIn March, CVG was named the best world airport serving 5 – 10 million passengers in the 2017 Skytrax World Airport Awards. CVG was also voted as the best regional airport in North America for the sixth time.

Other major announcements included:

• Delta growing its CVG capacity by 6 percent and expanding service to 13 existing CVG markets.
• Frontier growing its service by 20 percent with the addition of new nonstop service to New York City – LaGuardia, San Diego and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
• Continued growth of Allegiant Air with the announcement of its 16th nonstop market.  Service between CVG and Denver will start June 2nd.
• DHL hiring 900 additional employees.