Thrusday, January 14, 1999

Airport may lengthen runway for non-stop to Asia

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BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        ERLANGER — The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport won't likely land a direct flight to Asia until one of its runways is expanded to 12,000 feet.

        So the Kenton County Airport Board has started prelimi nary planning to expand the east-west runway by 2,000 feet to handle jets large enough to make a non-stop flight to Japan or elsewhere in the Far East.

        “We feel that someday there is going to be a need to have the runway extended, so we've started some very preliminary planning,” said Bill Martin, the airport's director of planning and development.

        Delta Air Lines, which operates its Midwest hub at the airport, has not announced any plans for a direct flight to Asia, Mr. Martin said Wednesday during a meeting of airport officials, airport board members and members of the Boone County Planning Commission.

        But last year, Delta did start a one-stop flight to Japan. And with Northern Kentucky's growth, the airport believes that sooner or later a non-stop flight to Asia will be feasible.

        “We want to be ready,” Mr. Martin said.

        The Japanese automaker Toyota has a large, growing presence in Northern Ken tucky and its employees and vendors often use the one-stop flight to Japan, company officials have said.

        Toyota has its North American manufacturing headquarters in Erlanger and last month announced plans to build an $85 million parts center in Hebron.

        Toyota also has a 6,000-employee auto plant in Georgetown, Ky., about 60 miles south on Interstate 75.

        Expanding the runway also would allow freight-carrier DHL Airways, which also op erates an airport hub, to handle larger cargoes and make longer flights, Mr. Martin said.

        DHL flies primarily at night and uses the east-west runway because fewer homes are in the runway's flight path than in those of the two north-south runways, Mr. Martin said.

        The east-west runway was expanded to 10,000 feet in 1994 to accommodate mainly DHL and to reduce noise for people living around the airport in Northern Kentucky and western Cincinnati and Hamilton County in Ohio.

        If the runway is extended, Mr. Martin said, a portion of Limaburg Road in Hebron will have to be closed. But he said exact plans, including cost and a timetable, have not been completely worked out.

        “We're still in the early stages, such as looking at the environmental impact of expanding the runway,” he said.

        The airport's officials meet periodically with the planning commission to discuss expansion, construction and long-term planning at the airport.

       

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