Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport

Runway layout at CVG

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (IATA: CVG, ICAO: KCVG) is located in Hebron, unincorporated Boone County, Kentucky, United States and serves the Greater Cincinnati metropolitan area. Despite being located in Boone County, the airport operations are governed by the neighboring Kenton County Airport Board. The airport's code, CVG, comes from the nearest major city at the time of its opening, Covington, Kentucky. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport covers an area of 7,000 acres (28 km²).

History

The first airplane landed at the airport January 10, 1947.^[3]

After Delta's bankruptcy was announced in 2005, flight cutbacks were announced that directly affected CVG. The numbers and sizes of flights to many cities have been reduced in the late-hour flights to better match local demand, though several services were ended altogether. After the reduction, CVG offers 400 flights per day to 120 nonstop destinations.

Facilities

The airport's terminal/remote-concourse configuration, combined with simultaneous triple landing/takeoff capabilities, makes CVG a particularly efficient airport for flight operations. CVG is the second largest hub of Delta Air Lines and is the central hub of Delta's wholly-owned subsidiary airline, Comair, which provides regional jet service under the Delta Connection banner. As such, the airport serves an important role in Delta's midwest hub-and-spoke system. In recent years Delta Air Lines has considerably pared down the amount of flights out of the Cincinnati hub and in August 2008 announced it would be moving all of its Comair flights to Concourses A and B and closing all operations in Concourse C by January 2009.^[4]

The airport has 3 terminals. Terminal 1 closed down on January 16, 2007. It is currently being used by the airport for Administrative offices. Until recently it was served only by US Airways Express. American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways all operate in Terminal 2. Terminal 3, built specifically for and by Delta, has 3 remote concourses connected by an underground tram and bus system. Terminal 3 is served by Delta, its regional affiliates, and SkyTeam partners Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines. Terminal 3 is the only one with US customs offices, and is therefore used by USA3000 Airlines, and until recently, TransMeridian Airlines.

The airport currently operates four paved runways:

• Runway 9/27: 12,000 x 150 ft. (3,658 x 46 m), Asphalt/Concrete
• Runway 18C/36C: 11,000 x 150 ft. (3,353 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt/Concrete
• Runway 18L/36R: 10,000 x 150 ft. (3,048 x 46 m), Surface: Concrete
• Runway 18R/36L: 8,000 x 150 ft. (2,438 x 46 m), Surface: Concrete

(For air services specific to Hebron, Kentucky, see Combs Field Airport.)

Airlines and destinations

Terminal 1

Currently, terminal 1 is deserted.

Terminal 2

Terminal 3

Terminal 3 has three gate concourses. Concourse C (housing the Comair gates) is reached by a shuttle bus from concourses A or B, and will be closing by January 1, 2009. Concourses A and B, housing all other Terminal 3 airlines, are reached by an underground tramway.

Cargo

• Ameriflight
• DHL Worldwide Express

Facts

Statistics

For the 12-month period ending May 23, 2006, the airport had 517,779 aircraft operations, an average of 1,418 per day: 64% air taxi, 31% scheduled commercial, 5% general aviation and <1% military.

Pricing

CVG consistently ranks among the most expensive major airports in the United States.^[5] Delta and its subsidiary Comair operate over 88% of flights at CVG, a fact often cited as a reason for relatively high domestic ticket prices.^[6] Airline officials have suggested that Delta practices predatory pricing to drive away discount airlines.^[5][7] From 1990 to 2003, ten discount airlines began service at CVG, only to later pull out,^[8] including Vanguard Airlines, which pulled out of CVG twice.^[9] Delta maintains that its pricing is reasonable, considering the increased connectivity and non-stop flights that a hub airport offers a market the size of Cincinnati.^[8]

According to a study commissioned by CVG, 18% of Cincinnati-area residents use one of five nearby airports – Dayton, Louisville, Port Columbus, Indianapolis, or Blue Grass (Lexington) – instead of CVG, primarily because residents can save nearly 50% on the price of airfares found locally at one of these other airports.^[8]

Industrial Murals

The airport is home to 14 large Art Deco murals that were originally created for the Cincinnati Union Terminal during the Great Depression. Mosaic murals depicting people at work in local Cincinnati workplaces were incorporated into the interior design of the railroad station by Winold Reiss, a German-born artist with a reputation in interior design.

When one Concourse of the Station 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, and in Terminals 2 and 3, which were then being constructed as part of a major airport expansion and renovation.

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 was featured in the scene in the film when Hoffman's character Raymond refused to fly on a plane.

Notable accidents

• On January 12, 1955 a TWA Flight 1955-01-12 to Cleveland Martin 202a was in the take off phase of departure from the airport when it collided with a privately owned Castleton Farms DC-3. The mid-air collision killed 13 people on the commercial airliner and 2 on the privately owned plane.

• On November 14, 1961, a Zantop cargo flight, a DC-4, crashed near runway 18 into an apple orchard. The crew survived.

• On November 8, 1965, American Airlines Flight 383, a Boeing 727, crashed on approach, killing 58 (53 passengers and 5 crew) of the 62 (56 passengers and 6 crew) on board.

• On November 6, 1967, TWA Flight 159, a Boeing 707, over-ran the runway during an aborted takeoff, injuring 11 of the 29 passengers. One of the injured passengers died four days later. The seven crew members were unhurt.

• On November 20, 1967, TWA Flight 128, a Convair 880, crashed on approach, killing 70 (65 passengers and 5 crew) of the 82 persons aboard (75 passengers and 7 crew).

• On October 8, 1979, Comair Flight 444, a Piper Navajo, crashed shortly after takeoff . Seven passengers and the pilot were killed.

• On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797, a DC-9 flying on a Houston-Dallas-Toronto-Montreal route, made an emergency landing at Cincinnati due to a cabin fire. Twenty-three of the 41 passengers died of smoke inhalation or fire injuries, including legendary Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers. All five crew members survived.

• On January 9, 1997, Comair Flight 3272, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft originating in Cincinnati, crashed while on approach into Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. All 29 aboard were killed.

• On August 13, 2004, Air Tahoma Flight 185, a Convair 580, was en-route to Cincinnati from Memphis, Tennessee, carrying freight under contract for DHL Worldwide Express. The aircraft crashed on a golf course just south of the Cincinnati airport due to fuel starvation and dual engine failure, killing the first officer and injuring the captain.

See also

• Ohio World War II Army Airfields

References

External links

• Historical Images of Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport
• History of the Industrial Murals
• Mural images and location map
• FAA Airport Diagram(PDF), effective 20 November 2008
• FAA Terminal Procedures for CVG, effective 20 November 2008
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KCVG
  • ASN accident history for CVG
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KCVG
  • FAA current CVG delay information

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