Louisville International Airport | New Air Service Development Business Plan

CHALLENGE:

The Louisville region’s civic and business leaders are eager for improved nonstop passenger air service, supporting the region’s many businesses and burgeoning convention and tourism industries.

SOLUTION:

Louisville Regional Airlift Development (LRAD) – a public/private partnership formed to support Louisville Regional Airport Authority (LRAA) in pursuing new nonstop passenger service to key coastal markets, with other markets to follow. LRAD sponsors include state and local government, chambers of commerce, convention & tourism bureaus, and many regional businesses.

It's time for Louisville to step up its game

Louisville must compete more aggressively for additional nonstop air service to match its peer cities’ (including Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Nashville) air service and resulting attractiveness to business, talent, and capital.

We are off to a good start

In October 2018, LRAD and LRAA proudly announced that American Airlines committed to first-ever nonstop service from Louisville to Los Angeles, LRAD’s top priority underserved market and the world’s sixth largest economy!

MORE TO COME

While new service to Los Angeles is reason to celebrate, we have more work to do, including adding service to Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and other important markets that will result in new jobs, bring more tourists to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, serve as a catalyst for new economical and industrial investment and bring new conventions to the city.

Proven incentives improve air service

Other mid-sized cities have made passenger air service a top priority, organizing civic and business leadership to provide proven incentives for airlines to add new nonstop service (e.g., United Airlines from Indianapolis to San Francisco; Southwest Airlines from Columbus to Oakland, etc.).

Call to action

Louisville-area civic and business leaders improve nonstop service at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport by committing to:

Participate in minimum revenue guarantees to share upfront risk with airlines.
Agree to fly new nonstop routes as they begin.
Maximize airport-based incentives and marketing support for each new route.

Our effort to Develop New Air Service From Louisville Continues...

Louisville Regional Airlift Development, Inc. (LRAD) is one of the region’s newest non-profit corporations. LRAD is backed by leading business and community leaders in a dynamic region of six million people which extends from Louisville to include Southern Indiana, Elizabethtown, and Bowling Green. LRAD’s mission is simple: develop new nonstop air service routes from SDF – service which will provide enormous benefits to the entire region – to new and important domestic and international markets over a multi-year period. Individuals, businesses, and other organizations can support this drive by making a tax-deductible pledge to provide funds to be used for minimum revenue guarantees to support the launch of new air service at SDF.