Blue Grass Airport CEO airs out industry's challenges, local successes

Mar. 5—From the Blue Grass to the wild blue yonder.

That's the connection made by the 1.2 million passengers who visit Blue Grass Airport in Lexington each year. It's an airport that serves not only Fayette County but the surrounding region including Somerset, as noted by Eric Frankl, the airport's President and CEO at Tuesday's Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce March membership luncheon at The Center for Rural Development.

A veteran of the airport industry for more than 30 years, Frankl previously served in leadership positions at airports in Toledo, Ohio and Springfield Illinois. Frankl came to Lexington in 2009, and has helped guide the central Kentucky airport through some of the industry's most turbulent times, notably Covid-19 — a period with ramifications which airlines and airports are still feeling in many ways, observed Frankl.

"It's really changed since then, and in some ways it's changed for the better, and some, not so much," said Frankl. "Our industry has really suffered from ... labor shortages. We see it and I know your community sees it as well. ... That really makes a difference with pilots and maintenance providers and air traffic controllers. When you don't have enough, it constrains your ability to grow. That is a key issue that our industry has been working on, in terms of training and developing the next generation."

One of the more noticeable differences that frequent flyers might feel is in the loss of smaller aircraft for shorter routes. Frankl said that 50-seat airplanes are being retired and 70-seaters are being reduced as well, impacting the viability of thinner but traditionally profitable routes.

"(The 50-seat airplane was) perhaps not the most comfortable aircraft out there, but that airplane was important for communities like Lexington for a number of reasons," said Frankl. "... When we have targets like Washington D.C. (with which) we can't fill up a large aircraft every day, that 50-seater was a good option and it got people direct service to where they wanted to go. When that plane leaves the fleet, it gets a little harder."

The next smallest aircraft will be a 76-seater, said Frankl, making it a bigger challenge to fill up the plane sufficiently to keep those quick direct routes running.

Frankl observed that Blue Grass Airport is a "strange entity" when it comes to larger-sized airports — not nearly as big as those in large metropolitan areas, including Louisville and Cincinnati-northern Kentucky, but larger than those in smaller communities, like Lake Cumberland Regional Airport here in Somerset.

"We're not part of the city, we're not part of the county, we're not part of the state. We're our own entity," said Frankl. "... We kind of have this cross between operating like a private sector company but being a public entity."

That includes being self-funded, not using federal, state or local tax dollars for basic operating purposes, bur rather operating as an Enterprise Fund, where a separate accounting/financial reporting mechanism is established for municipal services for which a fee is charged in exchange for goods and services. The airport collects rent and fees from airlines, tenants and operators, and is eligible for federal grants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for capital improvement projects; on occasion, the airport has received state grants for specific projects.

Blue Grass serves as the predominant airport for central and eastern Kentucky, with more than 760,000 potential travelers within a 30-mile radius, and a catchment area of 31 counties. Frankl noted that local travelers can reach 389 different cities around the world from the flights that leave Blue Grass Airport and the connections they make of one stop at most, with non-stop service to 15 destinations, including Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington DC. Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, and various locations in Florida.

The more recent addition of direct service to Las Vegas, a major tourism destination for people across the country, and Denver has been particularly beneficial for Blue Grass Airport, opening up traffic to the western part of the United States that hadn't been there before.

"Getting direct service to Vegas ... was really important to our community," said Frankl. "What happens is, particularly for folks south of Lexington, if this is your first airport, having that direct service with a low fare to Vegas, even though it's really only on Thursdays and Sundays, it doesn't require you to drive another hour and 15 minutes to get to Louisville or Cincinnati. That's why that was important, and it's working.

"Denver, the other one we just started here at the end of the year, was huge for us," he added. "We didn't have a lot of service first of all to Denver itself, but then to the west of Denver. The way that flight is timed leaving Lexington, when you get to Denver, you can connect to 71 or 72 cities west of Denver. ... We sort of beat the odds. The entire industry hasn't recovered yet from Covid, so for us getting those two new flights was significant."

More non-stop flights to Detroit and Destin, Fla., have also been big for Blue Grass Airport, even in terms of overall economic. Delta Air Lines is adding its third daily non-stop flight to Detroit starting June 7. Frankle noted that "the more seats that leave Lexington, the lower the price per seat for everybody."

Frankl also talked about Somerset's own airport, and information shared by SPEDA showing that Lake Cumberland Regional has a $91.5 million total economic output annually, creating 512 jobs and generating $3.8 million in state and local tax revenue. (For comparison, Blue Grass Airport reaches $703.4 million in economic impact, with 4,702 jobs supported.)

"(Lake Cumberland Regional's economic output) is huge, and this is why it's really important for aviation in Kentucky," said Frankl. "... If a private sector company had that kind of economic impact, we would all know it's name. But the airport kind of quietly goes about its business. (Airport manager) Kellie Baker is a personal friend of mine, she's a great airport manager that you have here. ... You have something to be proud of here as well."

Frankl said that through the Kentucky Aviation Association, entities like Blue Grass Airport and Lake Cumberland Regional are able to collaborate with one another on various issues.

"We have a good relationship, where if (Baker) has a question about federal funding or some regulation, we help one another," said Frankl. "... We really work well. It's a pretty tight-knit group, really between all 56 airports."

Frankl also took questions from the crowd, one of which allowed him to talk about the ways the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology is changing the airline industry and how people are likely to book trips moving ahead.

"(R)ight now you book a flight out of Blue Grass Airport, you drive up there, you fly wherever you're going and you come back," said Frankl. "That A.I. technology they're starting to tinker with basically can take you from the door of your house to your destination and back to the door of your house, all in one itinerary.

"Instead of booking an airline ticket and driving, you book one ticket, it picks you up at your house, picks up your bags, it takes you (to your destination) and brings you all the way back," he continued. "That is what I think I'm really excited about for our industry, because I think that will take a lot of the complication out of the whole travel sector for sure."