LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentuckians have been flying in and out of Blue Grass Airport for more than 75 years. As airport management looks to the future, they're developing a new master plan that may include some big changes as air travel picks up. They want public input too.
Blue Grass Airport's had an interesting ride these last few years.
"It kind of surprised us. Coming out of covid, we thought the period it would take for us to rebuild ourselves would take a lot longer, but we've had some really good activity with the airlines that have produced a lot of passengers through our terminals," said Eric Frankl, president and CEO of Blue Grass Airport.
As the pandemic struck, Frankl said airport numbers plummeted to 5% of normal. As travel has exploded, though, the airport is nearly back to 100% of pre-pandemic passenger numbers, but they're traveling differently than before.
"The aircraft type is just dramatically different. You'll see a lot larger aircraft, pretty much from every airline that serves our market, and a lot more frequency with large aircraft. We still have a couple of 50-seaters, 70-seaters here, but the majority of them are now large-frame aircraft that serve our market," Frankl said.
That can be more efficient for moving a lot of people at once, but the amenities at the airport just weren't built for that many people at a time.
"A lot of them were built for 50 and 70-seaters; the seating areas, the size of the restrooms, some of the restaurant facilities just aren't sized for the larger aircraft. In the case of Allegiant, we're talking about 160 to 170 passengers at one time, and we just didn't have the room; we didn't plan to have the room for that sized aircraft, and now, that's a regular occurrence, not only with Allegiant, but with American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, and even United's upsized their aircraft as well," Frankl said.
So, as airport management plans for the future, they expect they'll need to expand in several areas.
"Most of our challenges revolve around, is our terminal large enough? We think that's most likely going to be an area of focus for us in the future," he said.
They will likely need to expand in other places like the access road and the parking lots, but there is an obstacle.
"One of the things that you see when you come out here, particularly when you park in the parking structure, the garage, is the air traffic control tower is right there. It was great at the time, in the 70s when it was built, but it's probably not located in the best location for us to be able to expand, not only the terminal but the road, the access road, the parking facilities, so really it's going to be a focus area to try to relocate the air traffic control tower," Frankl said.
They're also making plans for when they may have to rebuild the main runway. And, one day far in the future, if the airport continues to get busier, Frankl says it could outgrow the land where it was built.
"We believe we'll be able to meet demand, at least in the next 10 to 15 years, maybe out to 20. At some point, if we grow the terminal, we can only grow it so much, and then we're out of space. I think the community will have to wrestle with someday down the road, long time down the road, about whether this is the right location for the facility or not," Frankl said.
The airport is hosting an open house for the public to see possible new airport advancements and to give feedback on August 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Campbell House in Lexington.
