Louisville International Airport (SDF)

Just 10 minutes from downtown, Louisville International Airport is a low-fare airport that draws travelers within a 200-mile radius of the city. The airport now has nonstop service to 27 destinations and convenient connections to cities worldwide. The airport accommodated more than 3.8 million passengers in 2007.

Louisville International ranks third in North America—and ninth in the world—in the total amount of cargo handled as home of UPS's international air-sorting hub. The airport handled 4.5 billion pounds of cargo, freight and mail in 2007.

Airport Statistics

Louisville International is situated on 1200 acres. The passenger terminals comprise more than 360,000 sq. ft. and have 23 boarding gates. The airport offers 5,625 public parking spaces — including a 4-level parking garage, with 3 levels under cover.

The airport consists of 2 parallel runways, one crosswind runway and over 62,000 linear feet of taxiways. Aircraft operations (take offs and landings) totaled 178,439 in 2006.

Runway lengths are as follows:
11/29 — 7,250 feet
17L/35R — 8,580 feet
17R/35L — 11,890 feet

For more detailed airfield information, visit www.gcr1.com/5010web/

General Aviation Services

Atlantic Aviation Services (formerly FBO AvCenter) at Louisville International (SDF) is a comprehensive facility with complete line service. In addition to the comfort and convenience features of a new terminal and corporate hangar, AvPorts has developed an exclusive hand-held fuel management technology to handle quick-turn requirements. For more information, call General Manager Richard Parisi at (502) 368-1515 or visit www.atlanticaviation.com/sdf.html

Military Operations

In addition to commercial passenger and general aviation activities, Louisville International is home to the Kentucky Air National Guard and UPS. UPS has become Kentucky's second largest private-sector employer.

Kentucky Air National Guard

The Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Airlift Wing is based at Louisville International Airport and provides worldwide theater airlift for U.S. military and humanitarian operations. The wing is equipped with 12 C-130H model aircraft. Eight squadrons and seven flights carry out the unit's mission by providing administrative and logistical support. For more information, visit
www.kyang.ang.af.mil

Cargo Operations

UPS

History

The future of Louisville International changed dramatically when, in 1981, United Parcel Service (UPS) began a new overnight-delivery business with hub operations at Louisville's airport. UPS built a 35-acre apron for parking additional aircraft and initially employed 135.

Heavy Airfreight Hub

In 2005, UPS chose Louisville for its heavy airfreight hub after closing the Dayton, Ohio, air hub of Menlo Worldwide Forwarding, which it had recently purchased.

A new, $84.5 million, 653,000-square-foot heavy freight facility was added to the existing operations in Louisville. The heavy airfreight hub beganthe express air freight operation in June 2006. The freight operations are expected to employ over 1200 additional people.

Worldport Expansion

In May 2006, UPS announced a $1 billion expansion that will increase sorting capacity over the next five years and create more than 5,000 additional jobs.

The expansion plan calls for the addition of three aircraft load/unload "wings" to the hub building followed by the installation of high-speed conveyor and computer control systems. While the configuration has yet to be finalized, work has begun and will be complete by 2010.

The plan will increase Worldport by 1.1 million square feet to 5.1 million square feet - the equivalent of more than 113 football fields.

Worldport is the home base of UPS Airlines, the eighth largest airline in the world. The company's extensive air network includes international air hubs in Cologne, Taipei, Miami (to serve Latin America), an intra-Asia hub in the Philippines, and the UPS Worldport-the four million, square-foot heart of UPS's global air network in Louisville, Kentucky.

These expansions could have even greater significance for the area's economy as the hub becomes a magnet for other industries. For more information, visit www.ups.com.

Powering the Regional Economy

Louisville International Airport and Bowman Field comprise the largest employment center in Louisville Metro. Growth at the airports translates into additional jobs, payroll, business expenditures and construction projects, as well as generating additional local and state tax revenues for the region.

The airports also fuel the economy by helping retain and attract business, conventions and tourists. They provide access to world markets overnight and connect passengers to world destinations quickly.

In 2005, Louisville's airports generated recurring economic impacts of:

• 43,589 total jobs
• $1.8 billion in total annual payroll
• $4.5 billion in total business expenditures
• $246 million in state and local taxes generated

Link here for the complete combined report.

Art and the Airport

In 1985, reflecting Louisville's passion for the arts, the airport's Standiford Art Foundation-among the first foundations of its kind-actively began soliciting contributions for the placement of art and original commissions throughout the airport.

Today, as visitors walk through the airport, they encounter a stunning collection of public art. A playful sculpture evokes images of flight. Photographs detail the sights of the community and its environment. Painstakingly handcrafted quilts provide exquisite testimony to a cherished folk tradition. The essence of the city is captured in acrylic and canvas. And Pegasus, the mythical winged horse that's soul and symbol of our airports, flies in the landside rotunda.