By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
Wait a minute – there was a positive because of the pandemic. And Lisa Sauer shared it with the Covington Rotary Club at their weekly Radisson Hotel lunch meeting this week.
“We made it through the pandemic with our cargo business,” said Sauer, who currently serves as the chair of the Kenton County Airport Board (CVG), “because everyone at the time was ordering goods on-line.
“This off-set the passenger business.”
Speaking of the passenger business, today the airport is alive and well, and in 2023 serviced some 8.7 million, according to Sauer. In fact, she stated the airport is also the 12th-largest cargo airport in the world, with some 16,000 badged employees on campus.
“The airport,” the Cornell University graduate in Marketing and General Business Management, along with a MBA in Finance told the group, “has a $9.3 billion dollar plus economic impact in the region.”
That figure, she noted, is based on 2022 data in 2023 dollars.
As for a cross-section view of CVG, Sauer gave the group a bit of a tour:
• 7,000-plus acres
• Four runways
• $150 million annual operating budget, and
• a $1 billion-plus capital plan in the next five years
And for the consumer, CVG has 55 non-stop flights, along with seven direct international flights including – Paris, Punta Cana, Montego Bay, Cancun, London, Montreal, and Toronto.
“Every flight has to pay out to be here,” Sauer said, when talking about the international routes. She cited British Airways. “In their first year, they had great success, and in fact, succeeded what they anticipated.”
So how did CVG, pardon the pun, land British Airways?
“Both Ohio and Kentucky brought money to the table,” she said. “Indianapolis as well as other local hubs were vying them as well.”
But, back to cargo.
“CVG,” Sauer said, “is the second-largest global super hub with $300 million-plus invested by DHL since 2009. Second to Amsterdam.”
She said the airport is looking toward hub facility over the north ramp expansion – which was completed in 2016.
And, as for Amazon, what made CVG so attractive for them?
“It was the land,” Sauer said. “We had the option to expand.”
They have – they have already made a $1.5 million option.
Care and maintenance of the planes, of course, is critical, and CVG has taken care of that.
“When you can maintain planes,” she said, “that brings more traffic.”
FEAM Aero, a maintenance hanger facility has been created, thanks to some $19 million invested by FEAM. FEAM Aero is a new three-bay hanger, a $45 million investment by FEAM, which opened March 28th.
“FEAM was recruited here from Florida. “It’s truly epic. It is a school for airport mechanics. We train the workforce that we need, right at thew airport,” she said.
DHL is right there as well, as they have committed CVG as a hub. The DHL new maintenance hangar and site improvements was a $192 million investment by the company, according to Sauer.
So, what is next? What is left?
The consumer, for sure.
“CVG is now looking to accommodate growth and improve and expand the existing Terminal and Concourses,” she said. “The current bagging handling system was in place since Delta was a CVG hub. That system was for connecting traffic, not originating traffic. We are eliminating that system now; creating curbside enhancements as well.”
In December of 2020 Lisa Sauer retired from Procter and Gamble where she spent 32 years in Finance and Product Supply. She retired as Senior Vice President Product Supply, Global Home Care, and P&G Professional. She led a global organization of 4,000 in Engineering, Manufacturing Purchases, Supply Network Operations, Innovation Management, and Quality for a $6 billion-plus global business.
Today she is helping that business grow even more with her involvement at CVG.