Louisville's New Airline (again)

For the second time in less than a month, a new airline has picked Louisville for increased service. In mid-January, Denver-based Frontier Airlines announced new direct service flights from Denver to Louisville. Today, ExpressJet announced new direct service to Louisville from Kansas City, Mo and Raleigh/Durham, NC. Both cities are top 20 for business travelers from Louisville.

This new carrier promise to offer Louisvillian travelers all leather seating and XM satellite radio in flight. Dates of service and prices for tickets will be announced next week.

This announcement is yet another sign that outsiders are recognizing the solid and growing market that Louisville offers. Louisville's business community continues to expand at levels unheard of here in decades - and it shows. Flights such as these make Louisville more attractive of a destination for ease of use and connectivity. While flights will not spur a huge growth in business, they are a sign of renewed strength in the Louisville economy. And in turn, they can be a deciding factor on whether a company stays in your town, or flees to other, larger markets.

These new flights are a great win for Louisville...and the city seems to be on a roll.

Louisville's New Airline

On Tuesday it was announced that Frontier Airlines would soon begin non-stop service from Louisville to Denver, Colorado. This announcemen was the culmination of several years of work on the part of Mayor Abramson and SDF officials. This will be the flight non-stop flight to Denver from Louisville and represents yet another win for the local business community. Flight will begin in April and will run at very competative rates.

Now if only we could non-stop service to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Fairgrounds Renovations on target

So, for the first time in half a century, the South Wing of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center is getting a facelift. And quite a massive one. The entire 215,000 square foot structure was razed last year to make way for a new and improved South Wing with 27 foot high ceilings and only 9 interior columns. And for a city that depends on the business this massive facilty brings in, it's not a moment too soon.

Because of this massive new retrofit, and an addition of nearly 200,000 square feet of new space that came online last Fall, several shows that were looking to leave Louisville are now renewing their agreements. We've even already picked up a massive new show from Nashville, The Pumper and Cleaner Expo International. While it certainly isn't a glitzy affair (they do sell septic products after all!) it will draw 75,000 visitors to Louisville with an impact of over 15 million dollars. Good news for a center that isn't even finished until late Fall 2007.

After this expansion is completed the Fair Board still has several projects on the docket to be completed before the decade rolls over; a new 600 room full service hotel is in the works as well as a new outdoor amphitheatre to lure in new concerts to the city. The hotel is expected to cost upwards of 100 million dollars, most of which will be paid for through bonds issued by the Fairgrounds Authority and backed by the state of Kentucky. The amphitheatre proposal will need 20 million dollars and to be approved by the General Assembly in the 2008 session.