Elizabethtown, Kentucky(October 25, 2006) – The Elizabethtown Airport Board today announced its intent to restore commercial airline service to Addington Field. Such service would be the first at the airport since 1987 when both Piedmont Airlines and Delta Air Lines served the field with commuter flights to Dayton and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, respectively.
For Immediate Release
Elizabethtown Airport Board to Seek Commercial Airline Service
Project Responds to Area Requests and Recognizes Significant Growth Underway in City, Ft. Knox
Elizabethtown, Kentucky(October 25, 2006) – The Elizabethtown Airport Board today announced its intent to restore commercial airline service to Addington Field. Such service would be the first at the airport since 1987 when both Piedmont Airlines and Delta Air Lines served the field with commuter flights to Dayton and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, respectively.
Joe Yates, Chairman of the Elizabethtown Airport Board stated that the Board decided to take this action as the result of numerous inquiries from area residents and businesses requesting that service be restored to the airport.
During the past year, the Board hired L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC, a Louisville-based consulting firm to conduct a feasibility study to determine the existence of a regional market for commercial airline service. The study was recently completed and the findings were presented to the Board.
Upon review of the findings, the Board decided to proceed to the project’s next phase, which will include building regional support for the project, addressing airport infrastructure issues, recruiting one or more airlines to start service to the airport and to develop passenger promotion strategies. The Board will target regional jet service aligned with a major carrier to one or more major connecting hubs. L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC will continue to provide assistance to the Board on all phases of the project.
Mr. Yates commented, “The Elizabethtown Airport Board has received many inquiries about restoring service to Addington Field. The Board conducted a market feasibility study and determined that a market does indeed exist.”
“The Board also recognizes the substantial growth that is occurring throughout the region – especially within the Elizabethtown Metro Area – and with BRAC. Fort Knox, which has always been a heavy user of commercial airline service, will continue to be a frequent user of airline service as the new Commands arrive on Post and also while the Armor Center transitions out toFt. Benning,” Yates observed.
Elizabethtown has developed as a major regional center which provides significant services in the areas of education, employment, health care and shopping. Mr. Yates stated that the Board believes that Elizabethtown can now also become a regional center for commercial airline service as well. The city’s central location will provide for both travel cost and time savings to area travelers when it comes to commercial air travel.
More importantly, Yates stated, the successful development of commercial airline service will provide many significant benefits to the region, including:
- Connect Elizabethtown, Ft. Knox and Central Kentucky to the global economy in a new and more efficient manner
- Provide Fort Knox personnel with almost immediate access to the nation’s air travel system
- Provide area economic development officials with a new tool which will make the region more attractive to potential new business and industry, thereby assisting in creating hundreds if not thousands of new jobs
The project is expected to take several months.