Close to a decade in the making, government, civic, and airport leaders in Lexington Wednesday afternoon celebrated completion of Blue Grass Airport’s Taxiway Safety Enhancement Program.
The five-phase program helps to ensure operational safety on the airfield while also improving the efficiency of aircraft movement. To accommodate the new taxiway, the existing Snow Removal Equipment/Maintenance Complex and Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Facility were relocated. Scott Lanter is the longtime chief of public safety at Blue Grass. “We enhanced our response times, both to the runway for emergencies and to the terminal for emergencies. And really, probably what I’m most proud of is the station was designed by our firefighting staff to replace the home that had been here since 1979,” said Lanter.
This project, combined with a runway improvement program, will result in an investment of almost $100 million. Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton told those gathered for the ribbon cutting, “We must continue to make investments like the ones we’re talking about today to ensure the flying public that safety is a top priority here.”
Blue Grass Airport Executive Director Eric Frankl said it was well worth almost a decade of effort. “The new facility, firefighting facility that replaced a 1978 facility. The maintenance complex replaced a 40-year-old facility. So, we did that but also improved that taxiway and allowed better circulation on the airport all around. So, it was absolutely worth it. Would I have liked it to go faster? Yeah. It would have been nice, but given all the complexity of it, it worked it really well, I thought,” explained Frankl.
Frankl said air travel numbers at the Lexington airport are running about 85% compared to the same time in 2019, prior to the pandemic. The airport director added the question mark remains how much business travel will occur this fall.
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