Louisville Regional Airport Runway to Add 2,000 Feet for UPS

February 19, 2004

Airport Runway to Add 2,000 Feet for UPS
Louisville Courier Journal, KY
 
The Louisville Regional Airport Authority yesterday
approved construction of a 2,000-foot extension of the
west runway at Louisville International Airport, which
would allow United Parcel Service to get more packages
on its long-distance flights. 

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said this week that his
administration would pledge $1.4 million in state
money, completing financing for the $20 million
project. 

The state money will pay to relocate Martha Moloney
Drive to the north to make room for an 850-foot
northward extension of the 10,000-foot runway, which
also will be extended 1,150 feet to the south. 

The road connects Crittenden Drive to the airport's
passenger terminal. 

Heavier planeloads require longer runways to gain
take-off speed and the runway extension will allow
transoceanic flights to carry more fuel and cargo. 

"Long-term, the lengthened runway will allow us to
make some nonstop flights that will go to points in
the Far East, Europe and other points around the
world," said Mark Giuffre, a UPS spokesman. 

While UPS planes already can fly nonstop from
Louisville to Asia, "there are restrictions we carry
on weight because of the length of the runway. You
can't carry as much payload," he said. "If you can't
carry enough payload to pay for the flight, it kind of
negates the efficiency of it. You want to fly the
plane full." 

The expansion comes in part as a response to the
Memphis, Tenn., airport's runway extension, which
benefits the air cargo hub of UPS archrival FedEx. 

"You've got to be competitive, right?" airport
executive director Skip Miller said yesterday. 

UPS pays 70 percent of the airport's landing fees, "so
they're paying a good portion of that runway extension
cost to support this project," Miller said. "This is
not corporate welfare, although certainly with 23,000
jobs they have here in the community, you could
certainly justify helping them out." 

The Federal Aviation Administration is providing $13.1
million for the project, with $5.5 million from
Louisville Regional Airport Authority that landing
fees help provide. 

The runway extension, to be completed in late 2007, is
part of a $180 million package of five-year airport
capital improvements the airport authority approved
yesterday. Fletcher announced the state's contribution
to the runway extension Tuesday night at the annual
dinner of Greater Louisville Inc. — the Metro Chamber
of Commerce. 

Other major parts of the five-year capital plan
include $68 million for noise-abatement land
acquisition and $33 million toward a 225-room Wyndham
airport hotel. Taxiway expansions and snow removal
equipment also are in the plan. 

Of the $180 million budgeted, $87.7 million will come
from the airport authority, $75.6 million from the FAA
and $16.7 million from the state. 

If FAA or state funding is not received, projects will
be postponed or canceled. 

Martha Moloney Drive is named for the longtime aide to
former U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford, D-Ky. Moloney, who died
in 1995, specialized in aviation issues. Her work on
the expansion of Louisville International Airport led
airport officials to name the street after her.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dc/dcboard.php

*****************************************