Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport


Cincinnati Municipal Airport – Lunken Field is a public airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, three miles southeast of Downtown Cincinnati. It is owned by the city of Cincinnati and serves private aircraft and the fleets of local corporations. It serves a few commercial flights and is the second largest airport serving Cincinnati after Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. It is known as Lunken Airport or Lunken Field, after Eshelby Lunken. It is bounded by US Route 50 to the west, US Route 52 and the Ohio River to the south, the Little Miami River to the east, and Ohio Route 125 to the north. The airport is headquarters and hub for Cincinnati-based public charter airline Ultimate Air Shuttle, serving 5 destinations in the eastern United States with 16 peak daily flights. Lunken is also home to small charter airline Flamingo Air and its aviation school.

History

Cincinnati Municipal Airport was Cincinnati's main airport until 1947. It is in the Little Miami River valley near Columbia, the site of the first Cincinnati-area settlement in 1788. When the airfield opened in 1925 it was the largest municipal airfield in the world. The airport was named for industrialist Edmund H. Lunken, who ran the Lunkenheimer Valve Company.
The first aviation related activities in the area were flying lessons offered by John "Dixie" Dixon Davis around 1921. The flights took place just north of the airport roughly where the Lunken Playfield is today.
On December 17, 1925, the Embry-Riddle Company was formed at Lunken Airport by T. Higbee Embry and John Paul Riddle. A few years later the company moved to Florida, and later became the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In 1928 the T. E. Halpin Development Co, later the Metal Aircraft Corporation produced 22 of the high-wing Flamingo at the airport. Also in 1928, Aeronca Aircraft Corporation was formed to build cheap light aircraft; the factory building, hangar 4, is still in use. Over 500 C-2 and C-3 aircraft were built here.
Airline flights began in the late 1920s; in 1938 American Airlines and Marquette Airlines were using the new $172,000 terminal building.
During World War II, the airport served first as the headquarters of the I Concentration Command, before being transferred to the Air Transport Command.
Lunken Airport was supplanted by the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport after flooding from the Ohio River and introduction of larger aircraft that needed longer runways. The flooding prompted the airport's nickname of "Sunken Lunken". During the Ohio River flood of 1937, the airfield and two-story main terminal building at the southwest corner of the airport were submerged, except for the third-floor air traffic control "tower". A plaque on the terminal building, facing the airfield, indicates the high-water mark. In the early 1960s Conrad International Corporation, which upgraded Beechcraft 18s, was located at the airport. In 1964 the FAA designated the airport as a general reliever airport. As business jet travel expanded, the 6100-ft parallel runway 2R was added about 1965. In 1967, its name was officially changed from "Lunken Field" to "Lunken Airport".
Today the old control tower is home to the Lunken Cadet Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, and is the oldest standing control tower in the United States. The property also contains public recreation areas, including an 18-hole golf course, playgrounds, and walking/biking paths on the levee surrounding the airfield. In 2009 Ultimate Air Shuttle began operations at Lunken with a flight to Chicago–Midway, and has since expanded to four cities, including Chicago, New York, Charlotte, and Cleveland. Currently, many Cincinnati-area companies base their aircraft at the airport due to its proximity to downtown Cincinnati, but most airlines use Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Various proposals have taken place to add air service to the airport, including by Allegiant Air, which started operations at CVG instead, and Flamingo Air, which didn't happen. In 2018, a fixed based operator called Waypoint Aviation began operations out of a new 40,000-square-foot hangar at the airport.

Airport visitors

In 1927 Charles Lindbergh landed at Lunken and was mobbed by well-wishers. In 1964 a large crowd of fans greeted The Beatles as they flew into and out of Lunken for their concert at Cincinnati Gardens.
Several U.S. presidents and other dignitaries have arrived at Lunken; on October 30, 2007, Air Force One landed at Lunken as President George W. Bush visited abutting Cincinnati neighborhood Hyde Park for a fund-raiser for Republican Congressman Steve Chabot. On October 22, 2008, Republican Presidential candidate Arizona Senator John McCain and vice-presidential candidate Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of 12,000 in hangar A-10. Gretchen Wilson performed to start the rally. Cindy McCain and Todd Palin were also in attendance. Introducing them was former Republican Congressman Rob Portman. In 2011 the airport served as a backdrop for scenes in the film The Ides of March. On February 5, 2018, a Boeing C-32 flying as Air Force One landed at Lunken bringing President Donald Trump for an address to the employees of Sheffer Corporation in nearby Blue Ash.

Restaurant

The Sky Galley restaurant has been in nearly continuous operation for decades, and is so named because the first meals served on a commercial airliner were prepared here. The Sky Galley is housed in the terminal building and has large windows and a patio dining area facing the airfield, allowing views of small aircraft and corporate jets taking off and landing. In 2019, the lease agreement for the restaurant was nearly cancelled by the city due to potential food safety risks reported by the Health Department. After an online petition on change.org gained over 17,000 signatures, an agreement was reached in which the city would provide up to $100,000 to help renovate the restaurant and grant it another 5-year lease if the owner committed to correcting the violations.

Facilities

Cincinnati Municipal Airport – Lunken Field covers and has three runways:

Passenger

also has a facility in Cincinnati.

Cargo

Statistics

In 2004 the airport had 108,904 aircraft operations, an average of 298 per day: 83% general aviation, 17% air taxi, 1% military and <1% scheduled commercial. 314 aircraft are based at this airport: 62% single-engine, 21% jet, 15% multi-engine and 1% helicopter.

Top destinations (October 2016 - September 2017)

RankCityPassengersCarriers
1Cleveland, Ohio7,820
2Chicago–Midway, Illinois5,970Ultimate Air Shuttle
34,530Ultimate Air Shuttle
4Charlotte, North Carolina4,070Ultimate Air Shuttle
5Atlanta, Georgia1,030Ultimate Air Shuttle

Total passengers

YearTotal PassengersChange
19298,528
2005451
2006729 161.6%
2007636 -12.8%
20082,039 320.5%
20090
20100
20110
201227
20130
201424,490
201531,750 29.6%
201649,530 56.0%
201752,000 5.0%

Accidents and incidents