Blue Grass Airport

Last updated
Blue Grass Airport
Blue Grass Airport Logo.svg
Blue Grass Airport Terminals.jpg
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorLexington-Fayette Urban County Airport Board
Serves Lexington, Kentucky
Location Fayette County
Elevation  AMSL 979 ft / 298 m
Coordinates 38°02′11″N084°36′21″W / 38.03639°N 84.60583°W / 38.03639; -84.60583
Website bluegrassairport.com
Maps
KLEX Airport Diagram.svg
FAA airport diagram
Blue Grass Airport
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
ftm
4/227,0042,135 Asphalt
9/274,0001,219 Concrete
Statistics (2023)
Passenger volume1,354,136
Departing passengers681,611
Commercial aircraft operations17,720
Based aircraft (2021)169
Source: Blue Grass Airport, [1] Federal Aviation Administration, [2] BTS [3]

Blue Grass Airport( IATA : LEX, ICAO : KLEX, FAA LID : LEX) is a public airport in Fayette County, Kentucky, United States, 6 miles west of downtown Lexington. Located among horse farms and situated directly across from Keeneland Race Course, Blue Grass Airport is the primary airport serving central and eastern Kentucky. More than 1.3 million passengers depart or arrive annually at Blue Grass Airport. In 2017, the airport served 1,316,847 passengers via four major airline carriers: Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. [4]

Contents

Features and facilities

Facilities

The airport covers 911 acres (3.69 km2) and has two runways. [2] [5] On August 4, 2010, a new 4,000 foot runway, 9/27, opened replacing the previous 3,500 foot runway, 8/26. [6] The previous runway, which is in a similar location as the new runway except that it overlapped runway 22, was removed after a 2006 crash of a Delta Connection flight, during which all aboard except the co-pilot were killed after an attempted take-off from the wrong, shorter runway. [7] Blue Grass Airport is home to the Aviation Museum of Kentucky, which features more than 25,000 square feet of exhibit space displaying restored aircraft and memorabilia. The current main terminal building opened in 1977. On April 18, 2007, Blue Grass Airport opened an extension of Concourse B, adding six boarding gates with four new jet bridges.

Law enforcement and fire protection

This airport is protected by the Blue Grass Airport Department of Public Safety, located at 4101 Aviator Road, approximately the middle of the airport. This is an Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) facility with five apparatus bays, administration and operations, on-site residential living quarters, classroom-style training and physical training facilities, and a flight line watch room. [8] The apparatus bays are located on the level aligned with the airfield, along with the frequently used spaces are located as close as possible to the apparatus bays to minimize response times. All of the DPS officers are trained and certified in law enforcement, firefighting, and EMS. Officers of the DPS work shifts of 24-on and 48-off, which is a typical firefighter's shift. During the 24-hour work shift, they perform all aspects of public safety - law enforcement, firefighting, and EMS. [9] They are required to have 100 hours of fire training every year on top of the 40 hours of law enforcement training each year.

Economic impact

Blue Grass Airport is a catalyst for economic growth in the region, contributing to both the Lexington area and other parts of Kentucky. The airport is an important component of Lexington's economy, providing 3,478 jobs for Lexington and an annual economic impact of $370 million. [10] In addition to commercial passenger service, the airport also offers corporate and general aviation services, including a newly constructed general aviation terminal, U.S. Customs, charter flights, aircraft maintenance, hangars, and flight instruction.

Passenger numbers

The airport is the third busiest airport in Kentucky, behind Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (9.1 million passengers/year) and Louisville International Airport (4.2 million passengers/year).

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsRefs
Allegiant Air Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Orlando/Sanford, Punta Gorda (FL), St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Sarasota (begins April 3, 2025) [11]
Seasonal: Destin/Fort Walton Beach, Myrtle Beach 		[12]
American Airlines Charlotte (begins June 5, 2025), Dallas/Fort Worth [13]
American Eagle Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia
Seasonal: Miami [14] 		[13]
Delta Air Lines Atlanta [15]
Delta Connection Detroit, New York–LaGuardia (resumes May 7, 2025), [16] Washington–National [15]
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Denver [17] [18]

Destinations map

Statistics

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from LEX (November 2022 - October 2023) [3]
RankAirportPassengersCarriers
1 Flag of Georgia (U.S. state).svg Atlanta, Georgia 194,000Delta
2 Flag of North Carolina.svg Charlotte, North Carolina 102,000American
3 Flag of Illinois.svg Chicago, Illinois 88,000American, United
4 Flag of Texas.svg Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 76,000American
5 Flag of Michigan.svg Detroit, Michigan 41,000Delta
6 Flag of Florida.svg Orlando–Sanford, Florida 31,000Allegiant
7 Flag of Florida.svg St. Petersburg, Florida 26,000Allegiant
8 Flag of Florida.svg Punta Gorda, Florida 22,000Allegiant
9 Flag of Florida.svg Fort Lauderdale, Florida 19,000Allegiant
10 Flag of Pennsylvania.svg Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 15,000American

Airline market share

Largest airlines at LEX
(April 2022 - March 2023) [3]
RankAirlinePassengersShare
1 Delta Air Lines 355,00027.66%
2 Allegiant Air 217,00016.92%
3 PSA Airlines 195,00015.22%
4 SkyWest Airlines 105,0008.14%
5 American Airlines 95,9407.47%
Other316,00024.58%

History

Blue Grass Airport began as a municipal airfield that was developed with the assistance of the Federal Civil Works Administration as part of a state-wide airport development policy in 1933. The town share for construction was $1,362 with a portion of $22,427 spent in Lexington overall. [19] Blue Grass Airport opened with a star-shaped layout. In World War II it was used by pilots training at Bowman for dead-stick landing practice in preparation for glider assaults. [20]

The original airport logo was designed by a student who attended and graduated from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Jill Reiling Markey (class of 1978) designed the logo in 1976. The current logo is based on Dr. Markey's design. For her efforts, Dr. Markey was awarded the Commission of Kentucky Colonel by then Governor Julian M. Carroll in 1976. [21]

Accidents and incidents

Bluegrass Field was Auric Goldfinger's flight destination in the James Bond film Goldfinger . [30]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Blue Grass Airport Passenger Stats for 2023" (PDF). bluegrassairport.com. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  2. 1 2 FAA Airport Form 5010 for LEX PDF , effective October 31, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 "Blue Grass Airport" . Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  4. ↑ Blue Grass Airport Passenger Statistics
  5. ↑ "LEX airport data at skyvector.com". skyvector.com. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  6. ↑ 2013 Passenger Statistics Archived 2014-05-19 at the Wayback Machine Blue Grass Airport. Retrieved 2014-05-19
  7. ↑ "Blue Grass Airport has undergone many changes since crash of Flight 5191".
  8. ↑ "Bluegrass International Airport Public Safety Facility". CR Architects. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  9. ↑ "Eyes in the Sky". Kentucky Law Enforcement. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  10. ↑ Blue Grass Airport Economic Impact Study 2011
  11. ↑ "Allegiant Ties Record for Largest Expansion in Company History with 44 New Nonstop Routes, plus 3 New Cities" . Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Allegiant Interactive Route Map". Allegiantair.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  13. 1 2 "Flight schedules and notifications". Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Palm trees and 80 degrees: American Airlines adds more ways to visit Miami with record-breaking winter schedule". American Airlines Newsroom. July 13, 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  15. 1 2 "FLIGHT SCHEDULES" . Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "Nonstop flights to NYC returning to Blue Grass Airport". WKYT. November 22, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  17. ↑ "United Expands Role as Denver's Most Flown Airline: Adds 35 Flights, Six Routes, 12 Gates, New Flight Bank and Three Clubs" . Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Timetable". Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  19. ↑ City of Lexington Proposed Budget 1934
  20. ↑ James A Clark Jr. Jim Clark Soldier Farmer Legislator. p. 45.
  21. ↑ Letter of acknowledgement from Dr. George M. Gumbert, Jr., Chairman, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Airport Board to Jill Reiling Markey.
  22. ↑ Accident descriptionfor N100RC at the Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved on October 29, 2020.
  23. ↑ "NTSB Probable Cause Report ATL88MA053". National Traffic Safety Board. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  24. ↑ "2 Killed, 4 Injured in Kentucky Plane Crash". The Dallas Morning News . 1987-12-06.
  25. ↑ "NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System report #256788". NASA . Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  26. ↑ "NTSB Probable Cause Report NYC02FA177". National Transportation Safety Board . Retrieved 2006-08-27.
  27. ↑ "NTSB Preliminary Report ERA09FA215". National Transportation Safety Board . Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  28. ↑ Evans, Tamara. "Problem with NASCAR driver's plane causes scare at airport". Archived from the original on 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  29. ↑ WKYT. "Plane skids off runway at Blue Grass Airport, no injuries reported" . Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  30. ↑ "Goldfinger Script - transcript from the screenplay and/or James Bond movie". script-o-rama.com.
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