Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport ( IATA : CVG , ICAO : KCVG , FAA LID : CVG ) is a public international airport located in Boone County, Kentucky , United States, around the community of Hebron . The airport serves the Cincinnati tri-state area . The airport's code, CVG, is derived from the nearest city at the time of the airport's opening, Covington, Kentucky . The airport covers an area of 7,000 acres (10.9 sq mi; 28.3 km). It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2023–2027, in which it is categorized as a medium-hub primary commercial service facility.
55-558: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport offers non-stop passenger service to over 50 destinations in North America and Europe , handling numerous domestic and international cargo flights every day. The airport is a cargo global hub for Amazon Air , Atlas Air , ABX Air , Kalitta Air , and DHL Aviation . The airport is currently the 6th busiest airport in the United States by cargo traffic and 12th largest in
110-561: A people mover (a similar layout to Delta's main hub at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport ). Concourse C was only accessible by shuttle buses and was a ground-level facility for regional aircraft used by Delta Connection (operated by Comair ). After the opening of Terminal 3, the former Terminals B and C were renamed Terminals 1 and 2 respectively, which continued to house non-Delta airlines. Aircraft operations dramatically increased from around 300,000 to 500,000 yearly aircraft movements. In turn, passenger volumes doubled within
165-597: A 64-mile flight to Dayton, to a daily nonstop to Honolulu and Anchorage, to transatlantic destinations including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Manchester, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Zürich. Additionally, Air France operated flights into CVG for several periods for over a decade before finally terminating the service in 2007. When Delta went into bankruptcy in September 2005, a large reduction at CVG eliminated most early-morning and night flights. These initial cuts caused additional routes to become unprofitable, causing
220-587: A Hebron postal address, while the administrative headquarters uses an Erlanger postal address. The airport is outside of the Hebron census-designated place , which is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau , and the airport is also not in Erlanger, a city. The office, at 77 Comair Boulevard, was formerly the headquarters of the American regional airline Comair . The airport has one terminal and two concourses with
275-449: A cargo facility on the airport grounds. The company used DHL 's facilities prior to the construction of its new facility. The hub is Amazon's principal shipping hub and was constructed on 1,129 acres (457 ha) of land at the airport with a 3,000,000 sq ft (280,000 m) sorting facility and parking positions for over 100 aircraft. On April 30, 2017, Amazon began operations at CVG with 75 Boeing 767-200ER/300ER aircraft based at
330-671: A cost of $ 50 million, was permanently closed in 2008 and demolished in 2016. Further reductions in early 2010 caused Delta to close Concourse A in Terminal 3 on May 1, consolidating all operations into Concourse B. This resulted in the layoff of more than 800 employees. By 2011, Delta was down to roughly 130 flights per day at CVG. After several years of cuts to its older fleet, which were cited as being cut due to high costs associated with rising oil prices, Delta's wholly-owned and CVG-based subsidiary, Comair , ceased all operations in September 2012, ending over three decades of operations. In 2017,
385-494: A decade from 10 million to over 20 million. This expansion prompted the building of runway 18L/36R and the airport began making preparations to construct Concourse D while adding an expansion to Concourse A and B. At its peak, CVG became Delta's second largest hub, handling over 600 flights daily in 2005. It was the fourth largest hub in the world for a single airline, based on departures, ranking only behind Atlanta, Chicago–O'Hare, and Dallas/Fort Worth. The hub served everything from
440-487: A hub at CVG. That same year, Comair introduced its first international flights from Cincinnati to Toronto. In 1992, Comair moved into Concourse C, as Delta Air Lines gradually continued to acquire more of the airline's stock. In 1993, Comair was the launch customer for the Canadair Regional Jet , of which it would later operate the largest fleet in the world. By 1999, Comair was the largest regional airline in
495-509: A low-fare New York City–to–Los Angeles route in 1967; the CAB studied the request for over six years, only to dismiss it because the record was "stale". Continental Airlines began service between Denver and San Diego after eight years only because a United States Court of Appeals ordered the CAB to approve the application. This rigid system encountered tremendous pressure in the 1970s. The 1973 oil crisis and stagflation radically changed
550-507: A suitable site on the provision that Kenton County paid the acquisition cost. In October 1942, Congress provided $ 2 million to build four runways. The field opened August 12, 1944, with the first B-17 bombers beginning practice runs on August 15. As the tide of the war had already turned, the Air Corps only used the field until it was declared surplus in 1945. However, this was not before the first regularly scheduled air freight shipment in
605-519: A total of 51 gates. Both concourses are islands and are only accessible by an underground moving walkway and people mover . All international arrivals without pre-clearance are handled in Concourse B. The airport is home to 14 large Art Deco murals created for the train concourse building at Cincinnati Union Terminal during the station's construction in 1932. Mosaic murals depicting people at work in local Cincinnati workplaces were incorporated into
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#1732791887842660-418: Is any flight with no change in flight number, but which may include one or more stops. During the early age of aviation industry when aircraft range was limited, most flights were served in the form of a milk run , aka there were many stops along the route. But as aviation technology developed and aircraft capability improved, non-stop flights began to take over and have now become a dominant form of flight in
715-707: The British Airways Concorde at JFK. In 1991, the airline ceased operations because of high fuel prices and the suspension of the British Airways contract after the first Gulf War. In the mid-1980s, Delta opened a hub in Cincinnati and constructed Terminals C and D with 22 gates. During the decade, Delta ramped up both mainline and Comair operations and established Delta Connection . Delta's continued growth at CVG then prompted them to spend $ 550 million to build their own terminal facility in
770-419: The 1990s. The new terminal, known then as Terminal 3, opened in 1994 and would largely replace Terminal D. Terminal 3 consisted of three airside concourses, with most of Terminal D's gate space being repurposed into Terminal 3's Concourse A while Concourses B and C were new construction. Concourses A and B were parallel concourses connected to Terminal 3's main building by an underground walkway which also included
825-506: The Act included the following: The Act intended for various restrictions on airline operations to be removed over four years, with complete elimination of restrictions on domestic routes and new services by December 31, 1981, and the end of all domestic fare regulation by January 1, 1983. In practice, changes came rather more rapidly than that. Among its many terms, the act did the following: Safety inspections and air traffic control remained in
880-550: The Judiciary Committee initiative. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Alfred E. Kahn , a professor of economics at Cornell University , to be chair of the CAB. A concerted push for the legislation had developed from leading economists, leading think-tanks in Washington, a civil society coalition advocating the reform (patterned on a coalition earlier developed for the truck-and-rail-reform efforts),
935-612: The Ohio River Valley; it frequently experienced fog, and the 1937 flood submerged its runways and two-story terminal building. Federal officials wanted an airfield site that would not be prone to flooding, but Cincinnati officials hoped to build Lunken into the region's main airport. Officials from Boone , Kenton , and Campbell counties in Kentucky took advantage of Cincinnati's short-sightedness and lobbied Congress to build an airfield there. Boone County officials offered
990-556: The Pacific. DHL has completed a $ 105 million expansion and employs approximately 2,500 at CVG. Because of this growth, CVG stood as the 4th busiest airport in North America based on cargo tonnage and 34th in the world at the time. On May 28, 2015, DHL announced a $ 108M expansion to its current facility, which doubled the current cargo operations. The money was used to double the gate capacity for transferring cargo, an expansion to
1045-707: The United States arrived in mid-September, signalling the future importance of the airport. On October 27, 1946, a small wooden terminal building opened and the airport prepared for commercial service under the name Greater Cincinnati Airport . Boone County Airlines was the first airline to provide scheduled service from the airport and had its headquarters at the airport. The first commercial flight, an American Airlines DC-3 from Cleveland, landed on January 10, 1947, at 9:53 am. A Delta Air Lines flight followed moments later. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 97 weekday departures: 37 American, 26 Delta, 24 TWA, 8 Piedmont, and 2 Lake Central. As late as November 1959
1100-591: The airport and planned to have 200 daily takeoffs and landings from its CVG hub to destinations across the U.S. and internationally. The hub could create up to 15,000 jobs in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region. On August 11, 2021, Amazon debuted its new cargo hub at CVG. On May 28, 2024, Atlas announced that "Atlas Air has successfully reached an agreement to fully exit their Amazon CMI operations, which no longer aligned with our company plans. Separately, through Titan, we are pleased to extend
1155-476: The airport ever since. Terminal 2 was closed in May 2012, and CVG re-opened and consolidated all non-Delta airlines to Concourse A in Terminal 3 at that time, which became the sole terminal. Renovation and expansion of the ticketing/check-in area and Concourse A took place that year to accommodate the move. Terminals 1 and 2 were torn down in early 2017 to construct an overnight parking and deicing area. Both concourses,
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#17327918878421210-747: The airport had four 5,500 ft (1,700 m) runways at 45-degree angles, the north–south runway eventually being extended into today's runway 18C/36C. In the 1950s Cincinnati city leaders began pushing for expansion of a site in Blue Ash to both compete with the Greater Cincinnati Airport and replace Lunken as the city's primary airport. The city purchased Hugh Watson Field in 1955, turning it into Blue Ash Airport . The city's Blue Ash plans were hampered by community opposition, three failed Hamilton County bond measures, political infighting, and Cincinnati's decision not to participate in
1265-442: The average fare per passenger mile was about nine percent lower in 1994 than in 1979. Between 1976 and 1990 the paid fare had declined approximately thirty percent in inflation -adjusted terms. Passenger loads have risen, partly because airlines can now transfer larger aircraft to longer, busier routes and replace them with smaller ones on shorter, lower-traffic routes. However, these trends have not been distributed evenly throughout
1320-480: The board approved a $ 12 million bond to expand the south concourse of Terminal A by 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m) and provide nine gates for TWA , American, and Delta. A new east–west runway crossing the longer north–south runway was constructed in 1971 south of the older east–west runway. In 1977, before the Airline Deregulation Act was passed, CVG, like many small airports, anticipated
1375-453: The country worth over $ 2 billion, transporting 6 million passengers yearly to 83 destinations on 101 aircraft. Later that year, Delta Air Lines acquired the remaining portion of Comair's stock, causing Comair to solely operate Delta Connection flights. In 1988, two founders of Comair, Patrick Sowers and Robert Tranter launched a new scheduled airline from CVG named Enterprise Airlines , which served 16 cities at its peak. The airline spearheaded
1430-530: The customs facility, baggage claim, and ticketing areas were renovated in late 2017 to mid 2018 under a $ 4.5 million plan. In 2021, the airport opened a new rental car and ground transportation center adjacent to the main terminal. The airport is in an unincorporated area of the county. Various articles of the Cincinnati Enquirer describe the airport as being in Hebron . The airport terminal uses
1485-542: The development of a wider range of aircraft types that are better adaptable to markets of varying sizes. In 2011, Supreme Court Justice member Stephen Breyer , who was a special counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in the 1970s and worked with Senator Kennedy on the bill, wrote: What does the industry's history tell us? Was this effort worthwhile? Certainly it shows that every major reform brings about new, sometimes unforeseen, problems. No one foresaw
1540-409: The dozens of new airlines founded in deregulation's aftermath. For the most part, smaller markets did not suffer the erosion of service that had been predicted by some opponents of deregulation. However, until the advent of low-cost carriers , point-to-point air transport declined in favor of a more pronounced hub-and-spoke system . A traveler starting from a non-hub airport (a spoke) would fly into
1595-403: The dry leasing portion of our relationship with Amazon." The TANK 2X bus provides daily service in to downtown Cincinnati. [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency Non-stop flight A non-stop flight is a flight by an aircraft with no intermediate stops, as opposed to a direct flight , which
1650-416: The economic environment, as did technological advances such as the jumbo jet . Most major airlines, whose profits were virtually guaranteed, favored the rigid system, but passengers who were forced to pay escalating fares were against it and were joined by communities that subsidized air service at ever-higher rates. The United States Congress became concerned that air transport, in the long run, might follow
1705-457: The economic viability of ultra long haul flights improved. Direct flights and non-stop flights are often confused with each other. Starting March 31, 2019, American Airlines started offering non-stop flights from Phoenix, Arizona to London , England , meaning that the plane leaves Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and lands at Heathrow Airport . Conversely, a direct flight simply means that passengers typically would not get off
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1760-408: The federal airfield program. On December 16, 1960, the jet age arrived in Cincinnati when a Delta Air Lines Convair 880 from Miami completed the first scheduled jet flight. The airport needed to expand and build more modern terminals and other facilities; the original Terminal A was expanded and renovated. The north–south runway was extended from 3,100 to 8,600 ft (940 to 2,620 m). In 1964,
1815-402: The frequency of low-volume routes to be further cut from 2006 to 2007. Planning for the new east–west runway stopped, along with all expansions to current terminals; Terminal 1 was closed due to lack of service. In 2008, Delta merged with Northwest Airlines and cut flight capacity from the Cincinnati hub by 22 percent with an additional 17 percent reduction in 2009. Concourse C, opened in 1994 at
1870-703: The hands of the FAA, and the act also required the Secretary of Transportation to report to Congress about air safety and any implications that deregulation would have in that matter. The ADA (along with the Montreal Convention with regard to international flights) also has the effect of preempting state law with regard to claims against airlines for delays, discrimination, consumer protection violations and other allegations of passenger mistreatment. A 1996 Government Accountability Office report found that
1925-507: The head of the regulatory agency, Senate leadership, the Carter administration, and even some in the airline industry. The coalition swiftly gained legislative results in 1978. Dan McKinnon would be the last chairman of the CAB and would oversee its final closure on January 1, 1985. Senator Howard Cannon of Nevada introduced S. 2493 on February 6, 1978. The bill was passed and was signed by Carter on October 24, 1978. The stated goals of
1980-647: The hub was downgraded to a focus city, which was eliminated in 2021. Until 2015, CVG consistently ranked among the most expensive major airports in the United States. Delta operated over 75% of flights at CVG, a fact often cited as a reason for relatively high domestic ticket prices. Airline officials suggested that Delta was practicing predatory pricing to drive away discount airlines. From 1990 to 2003, ten discount airlines began service at CVG, but later pulled out, including Vanguard Airlines , which pulled out of CVG twice. After Delta downsized its hub operations, low cost carriers began operations and have been sustained at
2035-406: The hub, then reach the final destination by flying from the hub to another airport, the spoke. While more efficient for serving smaller markets, this system has enabled some airlines to drive out competition from their "fortress hubs." The growth of low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines has brought more point-to-point service back into the United States air transport system, and contributed to
2090-699: The industry and its customers would benefit from new entrants, the abolishing of price regulation, and reduced control over routes and hub cities. In 1970 and 1971, the Council of Economic Advisers in the Nixon administration , along with the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice and other agencies, proposed legislation to diminish price collusion and entry barriers in rail and trucking transportation. While
2145-435: The industry's spectacular growth, with the number of air passengers increasing from 207.5 million in 1974 to 721.1 million last year. As a result, no one foresaw the extent to which new bottlenecks would develop: a flight-choked Northeast corridor, overcrowded airports, delays, and terrorist risks consequently making air travel increasingly difficult. Nor did anyone foresee the extent to which change might unfairly harm workers in
2200-465: The industry. Still, fares have come down. Airline revenue per passenger mile has declined from an inflation-adjusted 33.3 cents in 1974, to 13 cents in the first half of 2010. In 1974 the cheapest round-trip New York-Los Angeles flight (in inflation-adjusted dollars) that regulators would allow: $ 1,442. Today one can fly that same route for $ 268. That is why the number of travelers has gone way up. So we sit in crowded planes, munch potato chips, flare up when
2255-717: The initiative was in process in the Ford administration , the Senate Judiciary Committee , which had jurisdiction over antitrust law , began hearings on airline deregulation in 1975. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy took the lead in the hearings. The committee was deemed a friendlier forum than what likely would have been the more appropriate venue, the Aviation Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee . The Ford administration supported
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue
2310-638: The interior design of the railroad station by Winold Reiss , a German-born artist with a reputation in interior design. When the train concourse building was designated for demolition in 1972, a "Save the Terminal Committee" raised funds to remove and transport the 14 murals in the concourse to new locations in the Airport. They were placed in Terminal 1, as well as Terminals 2 and 3, which were then being constructed as part of major airport expansion and renovation. When Terminals 1 and 2 were demolished,
2365-441: The loss of numerous flights; creating the opportunity for Patrick Sowers, Robert Tranter, and David and Raymound Mueller to establish Comair to fill the void. The airline began service to Akron/Canton, Cleveland, and Evansville. In 1981, Comair became a public company, added 30-seat turboprops to its fleet, and began to rapidly expand its destinations. In 1984, Comair became a Delta Connection carrier with Delta's establishment of
2420-531: The modern times. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 eventually opened up Russian airspace, allowing commercial airlines to exploit new circum polar routes and enabling many new non-stop services, removing the need of making stopover in-between. In the late 2000s to early 2010s, rising fuel prices coupled with economic crisis resulted in cancellation of many ultra-long haul non-stop flights. As fuel prices fell and aircraft became more economical
2475-517: The murals in those areas were stored and the new Security Screening building was designed to accommodate the heavy weight of the murals with the eastern "store front" windows designed to be removable to permit the future installation of the murals. The murals were also featured in a scene in the film Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise . In addition, a walkway to one of the terminals at CVG
2530-426: The nation's railroads into trouble. The Penn Central Railroad had collapsed in 1970, which was at that time the largest bankruptcy in history; this resulted in a huge taxpayer-funded bailout and the creation of the government-owned corporations Conrail and Amtrak . Leading economists had argued for several decades that the regulation led to inefficiency and higher costs. The Carter administration argued that
2585-483: The national air transportation network. Costs have fallen more dramatically on higher-traffic, longer-distance routes than on shorter ones. Exposure to competition led to heavy losses and conflicts with labor unions for a number of carriers. Between 1978 and mid-2001, eight major carriers (including Eastern , Midway , Braniff , Pan Am , Continental , Northwest Airlines , and TWA ) and more than 100 smaller airlines went bankrupt or were liquidated, including most of
2640-488: The plane if it stops (lands) at a location between the two cities. Airline Deregulation Act The Airline Deregulation Act is a 1978 United States federal law that deregulated the airline industry in the United States, removing federal control over such areas as fares, routes, and market entry of new airlines. The act gradually phased out and disbanded the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), but
2695-438: The regional jet revolution in a unique manner by operating 10-seat Cessna Citation business jets in scheduled services. The flights became popular with Cincinnati companies. The airline served destinations including Baltimore, Boston, Cedar Rapids, Columbus (OH), Green Bay, Greensboro, Greenville, Hartford, Memphis, Milwaukee, New York–JFK, and Wilmington (NC). The airline also became the first international feed carrier by feeding
2750-493: The regulatory powers of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over all aspects of aviation safety were not diminished. Since 1938, the federal CAB had regulated all domestic interstate air transport routes as a public utility , setting fares, routes, and schedules. Airlines that flew only intrastate routes, however, were not regulated by the CAB but were regulated by the governments of
2805-479: The sorting facility, and various technical improvements, which was completed in Autumn 2016. In addition, this has provided many more jobs for the Cincinnati area, and will dramatically increase the airport's operations. On January 31, 2017, Amazon announced that its new cargo airline, Amazon Air would pick CVG as its main worldwide shipping hub, following an investment of $ 1.49B in the construction and expansion of
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#17327918878422860-521: The states in which they operated. One way that the CAB promoted air travel was generally attempting to hold fares down in the short-haul market, which would be subsidized by higher fares in the long-haul market. The CAB also had to ensure that the airlines had a reasonable rate of return . The CAB had earned a reputation for bureaucratic complacency; airlines were subject to lengthy delays when they applied for new routes or fare changes, and were often not approved. For example, World Airways applied to begin
2915-553: The world. CVG is the fastest-growing cargo airport in North America. President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's administration approved preliminary funds for site development of the Greater Cincinnati Airport on February 11, 1942. This was part of the United States Army Air Corps program to establish training facilities during World War II . At the time, air traffic in the area centered on Lunken Airport just southeast of central Cincinnati. Lunken opened in 1926 in
2970-446: The world. However, in 2004, DHL decided to move its hub to Wilmington, Ohio, in order to compete in the United States shipment business. The plan ended up failing, and DHL moved back to CVG in 2009 to resume its original operations. CVG now serves as the largest of DHL's three global hubs (the other two being Leipzig/Halle and Hong Kong ) with numerous flights each day to destinations across North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and
3025-486: Was featured in the scene in the film when Hoffman's character, Raymond, refused to fly on a plane. The nine murals located in the former Terminals 1 & 2 were relocated to the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati. Additionally, there are several pieces of Charley Harper artwork in the Concourse B food court. In 1984, DHL opened its CVG hub and began operations throughout
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