About the Airport
Louisville International Airport (SDF)
Just 10 minutes from downtown, Louisville International Airport is a low-fare airport that draws travelers within a 200-mile radius of the city. The airport now has nonstop service to more than 20 destinations and convenient connections to cities worldwide. The airport accommodated more than 3.2 million passengers in 2009.
Louisville International ranks third in North America—and ninth in the world—in the total amount of cargo handled as home of UPS's international air-sorting hub. The airport handled almost 4.3 billion pounds of cargo, freight and mail in 2009.
Airport Statistics
Louisville International is situated on 1,200 acres. The passenger terminals comprise more than 360,000 sq. ft. and have 23 boarding gates. The airport offers 5,625 public parking spaces — including a 4-level parking garage, with 3 levels under cover.
The airport consists of 2 parallel runways, one crosswind runway and more than 62,000 linear feet of taxiways. Aircraft operations (take offs and landings) totaled 146,492 in 2009.
Runway lengths are as follows:
11/29 — 7,250 feet
17L/35R — 8,580 feet
17R/35L — 11,890 feet
For more detailed airfield information, visit www.gcr1.com/5010web/
General Aviation Services
Atlantic Aviation Services at Louisville International (SDF) is a comprehensive facility with complete line service. In addition to the comfortable and convenient features of a new terminal and corporate hangar, AvPorts has developed an exclusive hand-held fuel management technology to handle quick-turn requirements. For more information, call General Manager Michael Perry at (502) 368-1515 or visit www.atlanticaviation.com/Locations/SDF.aspx
Military Operations
In addition to commercial passenger and general aviation activities, Louisville International Airport is home to the Kentucky Air National Guard and UPS. UPS has become Kentucky's second largest private-sector employer.
Kentucky Air National Guard
The Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Airlift Wing is based at Louisville International Airport and provides worldwide theater airlift for U.S. military and humanitarian operations. The wing is equipped with 12 C-130H model aircraft. Eight squadrons and seven flights carry out the unit's mission by providing administrative and logistical support. For more information, visit www.123aw.ang.af.mil
Cargo Operations
UPS
History
The future of Louisville International Airport changed dramatically when, in 1982, United Parcel Service (UPS) began a new overnight-delivery business with hub operations at Louisville's airport. UPS built a 35-acre apron for parking additional aircraft, initially employing 135 people and sorting 2,000 packages its first night.
Over the past three decades, UPS has grown exponentially. The company now employs 20,000 Louisvillians and sorts 2,000 packages every 24 seconds.
Worldport®
Worldport, UPS’s 5 million-square-foot international air express hub, sits prominently between Louisville International Airport’s parallel runways, connecting Louisville to 200 countries and territories in mere hours. UPS initially invested $1 billion in Worldport, which opened in 2002.
Heavy Airfreight Hub
In 2005, UPS chose Louisville for its heavy airfreight hub after closing the Dayton, Ohio, air hub of Menlo Worldwide Forwarding, which it had recently purchased.
A new, $82.5 million, 653,000-square-foot heavy freight facility was added to the existing operations in Louisville. The heavy airfreight hub began their express air freight operation in June 2006. The freight operation employs more than 1,000 people.
Worldport Expansion
In May 2010, UPS completed a $1 billion expansion that increased sorting capacity by 37 percent to 416,000 packages per hour.
The expansion plan, which added two aircraft load/unload "wings" to the hub and a high-speed conveyor and computer control systems, increased Worldport by 1.2 million square feet, to 5.2 million square feet (the equivalent of more than 90 football fields).
Worldport is the home base of UPS's global air network and UPS Airlines, one of the world's foremost cargo carriers. The company's extensive air network includes international air hubs in Ontario, Canada; Shanghai, China; Miami, Fla. (to serve Latin America); Koln, Germany; Hong Kong; Taipei, Taiwan; and an intra-Asia hub currently under construction in Shenzhen, China.
These expansions could have even greater significance for the area's economy as the hub becomes a magnet for other industries. For more information, visit www.ups.com.
Powering the Regional Economy
Louisville International Airport and Bowman Field comprise the largest employment center in Louisville Metro. Growth at the airports translates into additional jobs, payroll, business expenditures and construction projects, as well as generating additional local and state tax revenues for the region.
The airports fuel the economy by helping retain and attract business, conventions and tourists. They provide access to world markets overnight and connect passengers to world destinations quickly.
In 2008, Louisville's airports generated recurring economic impacts of:
- More than 55,600 jobs
- Nearly $2 billion in payroll
- Over $5.6 billion in economic activity and
- More than $277 million in state and local taxes
Link here for the complete combined report
Art and the Airport
In 1985, reflecting Louisville's passion for the arts, the airport's Standiford Art Foundation (among the first foundations of its kind) actively began soliciting contributions for the placement of art and original commissions throughout the airport.
Today, as visitors walk through the airport, they encounter a stunning collection of public art. A playful sculpture evokes images of flight. Photographs detail the sights of the community and its environment. Painstakingly handcrafted quilts provide exquisite testimony to a cherished folk tradition. The essence of the city is captured in acrylic and canvas. And Pegasus, the mythical winged horse that's the soul and symbol of our airports, flies in the landside rotunda.