Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration approved preliminary funds for site development of the Greater Cincinnati Airport on February 11, 1942. This was part of the United States Army Air Corps program to establish training facilities during World War II. At the time, air traffic in the area centered on Lunken Airport just southeast of central Cincinnati.[9] Lunken opened in 1926 in the Ohio River Valley; it frequently experienced fog, and the 1937 flood submerged its runways and two-story terminal building.[10] Federal officials wanted an airfield site that would not be prone to flooding, but Cincinnati officials hoped to build Lunken into the region's main airport.[11]

Officials from Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties in Kentucky took advantage of Cincinnati's short-sightedness and lobbied Congress to build an airfield there.[12] Boone County officials offered a suitable site on the provision that Kenton County paid the acquisition cost. In October 1942, Congress provided $2 million to build four runways.[9]

The field opened August 12, 1944, with the first B-17 bombers beginning practice runs on August 15. As the tide of the war had already turned, the Air Corps only used the field until it was declared surplus in 1945.[9] However, this was not before the first regularly scheduled air freight shipment in the United States arrived in mid-September, signalling the future importance of the airport.[13]

On October 27, 1946, a small wooden terminal building opened and the airport prepared for commercial service under the name Greater Cincinnati Airport. Boone County Airlines was the first airline to provide scheduled service from the airport and had its headquarters at the airport.[9][lower-alpha 1]

The first commercial flight, an American Airlines DC-3 from Cleveland, landed on January 10, 1947, at 9:53 am. A Delta Air Lines flight followed moments later.[15] The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 97 weekday departures: 37 American, 26 Delta, 24 TWA, 8 Piedmont, and 2 Lake Central. As late as November 1959 the airport had four 5,500 ft (1,700 m) runways at 45-degree angles, the north–south runway eventually being extended into today's runway 18C/36C.

In the 1950s Cincinnati city leaders began pushing for expansion of a site in Blue Ash to both compete with the Greater Cincinnati Airport and replace Lunken as the city's primary airport.[16] The city purchased Hugh Watson Field in 1955, turning it into Blue Ash Airport.[17] The city's Blue Ash plans were hampered by community opposition, three failed Hamilton County bond measures,[18] political infighting,[19] and Cincinnati's decision not to participate in the federal airfield program.[20]

The main atrium at CVG

On December 16, 1960, the jet age arrived in Cincinnati when a Delta Air Lines Convair 880 from Miami completed the first scheduled jet flight. The airport needed to expand and build more modern terminals and other facilities; the original Terminal A was expanded and renovated. The north–south runway was extended from 3,100 to 8,600 ft (940 to 2,620 m). In 1964, the board approved a $12 million bond to expand the south concourse of Terminal A by 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m²) and provide nine gates for TWA, American, and Delta.[9] A new east–west runway crossing the longer north–south runway was constructed in 1971 south of the older east–west runway.

In 1977, before the Airline Deregulation Act was passed, CVG, like many small airports, anticipated the loss of numerous flights; creating the opportunity for Patrick Sowers, Robert Tranter, and David and Raymound Mueller to establish Comair to fill the void. The airline began service to Akron/Canton, Cleveland, and Evansville. In 1981, Comair became a public company, added 30-seat turboprops to its fleet, and began to rapidly expand its destinations. In 1984, Comair became a Delta Connection carrier with Delta's establishment of a hub at CVG. That same year, Comair introduced its first international flights from Cincinnati to Toronto. In 1992, Comair moved into Concourse C, as Delta Air Lines gradually continued to acquire more of the airlines stock. In 1993, Comair was the launch customer for the Canadair Regional Jet, of which it would later operate the largest fleet in the world. By 1999, Comair was the largest regional airline in the country worth over $2 billion, transporting 6 million passengers yearly to 83 destinations on 101 aircraft. Later that year, Delta Air Lines acquired the remaining portion of Comair's stock, causing Comair to solely operate Delta Connection flights.[21]

In 1988, two founders of Comair, Patrick Sowers and Robert Tranter launched a new scheduled airline from CVG named Enterprise Airlines, which served 16 cities at its peak. The airline spearheaded the regional jet revolution in a unique manner by operating 10-seat Cessna Citation business jets in scheduled services. The flights became popular with Cincinnati companies. The airline served destinations including Baltimore, Boston, Cedar Rapids, Columbus (OH), Green Bay, Greensboro, Greenville, Hartford, Memphis, Milwaukee, New York–JFK, and Wilmington (NC).[22] The airline also became the first international feed carrier by feeding the British Airways Concorde at JFK. In 1991, the airline ceased operations because of high fuel prices and the suspension of the British Airways contract after the first Gulf War.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-300ER heading to Paris

In the mid-1980s, Delta opened a hub in Cincinnati and constructed Terminal C and D with 22 gates. During the decade, Delta ramped up both mainline and Comair operations and established Delta Connection. Delta's continued growth at CVG then prompted them to spend $550 million to build their own terminal facility in the 1990s.[23] The new terminal, known then as Terminal 3, opened in 1994 and would largely replace Terminal D. Terminal 3 consisted of three airside concourses, with most of Terminal D's gate space being repurposed into Terminal 3's Concourse A while Concourses B and C were new construction. Concourses A and B were parallel concourses connected to Terminal 3's main building by an underground walkway which also included a people mover (a similar layout to Delta's main hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport). Concourse C was only accessible by shuttle busses and was a ground-level facility for regional aircraft used by Delta Connection (operated by Comair). After the opening of Terminal 3, the former Terminals B and C were renamed Terminals 1 and 2 respectively, which continued to house non-Delta airlines.[24]

Aircraft operations dramatically increased from around 300,000 to 500,000 yearly aircraft movements. In turn, passenger volumes doubled within a decade from 10 million to over 20 million. This expansion prompted the building of runway 18L/36R and the airport began making preparations to construct Concourse D while adding an expansion to Concourse A and B.[25]

At its peak, CVG became Delta's second largest hub, handling over 600 flights daily in 2005.[26] It was the fourth largest hub in the world for a single airline, based on departures, ranking only behind Atlanta, Chicago–O'Hare, and Dallas/Fort Worth.[27] The hub served everything from a 64-mile flight to Dayton, to a daily nonstop to Honolulu and Anchorage, to transatlantic destinations including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Manchester, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Zürich.[28] Additionally, Air France operated flights into CVG for several periods for over a decade before finally terminating the service in 2007.[29][30]

When Delta went into bankruptcy in September 2005, a large reduction at CVG eliminated most early-morning and night flights.[28] These initial cuts caused additional routes to become unprofitable, causing the frequency of low-volume routes to be further cut from 2006 to 2007. Planning for the new east–west runway stopped, along with all expansions to current terminals; Terminal 1 was closed due to lack of service. In 2008, Delta merged with Northwest Airlines and cut flight capacity from the Cincinnati hub by 22 percent with an additional 17 percent reduction in 2009.[26] Concourse C, opened in 1994 at a cost of $50 million, was permanently closed in 2008 and demolished in 2016.[31] Further reductions in early 2010 caused Delta to close Concourse A in Terminal 3 on May 1, consolidating all operations into Concourse B. This resulted in the layoff of more than 800 employees.[32]

By 2011, Delta was down to roughly 130 flights per day at CVG.[33] After several years of cuts to its older fleet, which were cited as being cut due to high costs associated with rising oil prices, Delta's wholly-owned and CVG-based subsidiary, Comair, ceased all operations in September 2012, ending over three decades of operations.[34] In 2017, the hub was downgraded to a focus city.[35] In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Delta closed its pilot and flight attendant bases and dropped CVG as a focus city, marking the end of the Delta hub era. However, Delta has continued to hold the largest market share at CVG and has continued to operate several routes from the airport to cities which it normally only serves through its hubs.

Concourse B Ramp Tower

Until 2015, CVG consistently ranked among the most expensive major airports in the United States.[36] Delta operated over 75% of flights at CVG, a fact often cited as a reason for relatively high domestic ticket prices.[37] Airline officials suggested that Delta was practicing predatory pricing to drive away discount airlines.[36][38] From 1990 to 2003, ten discount airlines began service at CVG, but later pulled out,[39] including Vanguard Airlines, which pulled out of CVG twice.[40] After Delta downsized its hub operations, low cost carriers began operations and have been sustained at the airport ever since.[41][42]

Terminal 2 was closed in May 2012, and CVG re-opened and consolidated all non-Delta airlines to Concourse A in Terminal 3 at that time, which became the sole terminal.[43] Renovation and expansion of the ticketing/check-in area and Concourse A took place that year to accommodate the move.[44][45] Terminals 1 and 2 were torn down in early 2017 to construct an overnight parking and deicing area.[46] Both concourses, the customs facility, baggage claim, and ticketing areas were renovated in late 2017 to mid 2018 under a $4.5 million plan.[47][48] In 2021, the airport opened a new rental car and ground transportation center adjacent to the main terminal.[49]

As of 2023, Delta Air Lines has reopened is crew base in Cincinnati, and now uses the airport as a full-fledged flight attendant base.[50]

The airport has one terminal and two concourses with a total of 50 gates.[56] Both concourses are islands and are only accessible by an underground moving walkway or people mover.[57] All international arrivals without pre-clearance are handled in Concourse B.[57]

• Concourse A has 22 gates.[56]
• Concourse B has 28 gates.[56]

The airport is home to 14 large Art Deco murals created for the train concourse building at Cincinnati Union Terminal during the station's construction in 1932. Mosaic murals depicting people at work in local Cincinnati workplaces were incorporated into the interior design of the railroad station by Winold Reiss, a German-born artist with a reputation in interior design. When the train concourse building was designated for demolition in 1972, a "Save the Terminal Committee" raised funds to remove and transport the 14 murals in the concourse to new locations in the Airport. They were placed in Terminal 1, as well as Terminals 2 and 3, which were then being constructed as part of major airport expansion and renovation. When Terminals 1 and 2 were demolished, the murals in those areas were stored and the new Security Screening building was designed to accommodate the heavy weight of the murals with the eastern "store front" windows designed to be removable to permit the future installation of the murals. The murals were also featured in a scene in the film Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. In addition, a walkway to one of the terminals at CVG was featured in the scene in the film when Hoffman's character, Raymond, refused to fly on a plane. The nine murals located in the former Terminals 1 & 2 was relocated to the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati.[58]

Additionally, there are several pieces of Charley Harper artwork in the Concourse B food court.

A DHL Boeing 767-200 (N784AX) taxiing at CVG

In 1984, DHL opened its CVG hub and began operations throughout the world. However, in 2004, DHL decided to move its hub to Wilmington, Ohio, in order to compete in the United States shipment business. The plan ended up failing, and DHL moved back to CVG in 2009 to resume its original operations. CVG now serves as the largest of DHL's three global hubs (the other two being Leipzig/Halle and Hong Kong) with numerous flights each day to destinations across North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific. DHL has completed a $105 million expansion and employs approximately 2,500 at CVG. Because of this growth, CVG now stands as the 4th busiest airport in North America based on cargo tonnage and 34th in the world.[59]

Amazon Air Boeing 767-300 cargo aircraft at CVG, its primary cargo hub

On May 28, 2015, DHL announced a $108M expansion to its current facility, which doubled the current cargo operations. The money was used to double the gate capacity for transferring cargo, an expansion to the sorting facility, and various technical improvements, which was completed in Autumn 2016. In addition, this has provided many more jobs for the Cincinnati area, and will dramatically increase the airport's operations.[60][61]

On January 31, 2017, Amazon announced that its new cargo airline, Amazon Air would pick CVG as its main worldwide shipping hub, following an investment of $1.49B in the construction and expansion of a cargo facility on the airport grounds.[62] The company used DHL's facilities prior to the construction of its new facility. The hub is Amazon's principal shipping hub and was constructed on 1,129 acres (457 ha) of land at the airport with a 3,000,000 sq ft (280,000 m²) sorting facility and parking positions for over 100 aircraft. On April 30, 2017, Amazon began operations at CVG with 75 Boeing 767-200ER/300ER aircraft based at the airport and planned to have 200 daily takeoffs and landings from its CVG hub to destinations across the U.S. and internationally.[63] The hub could create up to 15,000 jobs in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region.[64] On August 11, 2021, Amazon debuted its new cargo hub at CVG.