Blue Grass, 54 other Ky. airports to share $77 million in coronavirus relief money
The coronavirus relief package approved by Congress last week includes $77.2 million in aid to Kentucky airports struggling with the effects the pandemic has had on travel.
Blue Grass Airport will receive more than $9.5 million from the package, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office announced in a news release Tuesday.
The largest share of Kentucky’s funding will go to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, which will receive $42.9 million, and the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, which will get about $21.1 million.
The remaining funding will go to 52 smaller Kentucky airports, according to the release.
“Kentucky’s network of world-class airports drive our economy and support good jobs,” McConnell said in the release. “As our country faces the health and economic crisis of the coronavirus, we must maintain these critical features of Kentucky’s infrastructure. When this crisis is over, our Commonwealth will be ready to once again take flight.”
Passenger activity at Blue Grass Airport is down more than 90 percent as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the airport’s executive director, Eric Frankl, said in the news release.
Frankl said the airport “does not receive any local taxpayer revenue to support our day-to-day operations,” and he said staying in operation during the outbreak “has had a devastating financial impact.”
An airport spokeswoman said last month that several regular routes had been temporarily cut, and many flights had been canceled. She said some businesses operating out of the airport had laid off employees.
The restaurants at the airport have closed since then, according to the airport’s website.
Frankl thanked McConnell for his “significant role in passing an economic rescue package that makes it possible for us to continue to operate the airport during these unprecedented times.”
The aid will be provided through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program, McConnell’s office said in the release. The program typically requires a local match, but the funding provided by the CARES Act will not.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
