Who has ever used Owensboro Regional Airport? (Lexington, Louisville: home, live in)

[EclecticEars]

While searching for flights, I've discovered that I can fly on American from LAX to Owensboro with only one stop each way in St. Louis (with the STL-OWB leg contracted with Cape Air).

I still have friends and relatives in Kentucky that I visit and will continue to visit 1-3x yearly, even though I've moved away from the state.

Is OWB a nice airport--manageable (seems like it would be), friendly staff, some dining or snack option, etc.? What has been your experience, or at least those of people you know?

Thank you!

[wheelsup]

Do you know what type of equipment Cape Air flies? They are smaller 9 person Cessna 402 aircraft. Just be aware of that. They are a very safe company and hire good people, don't let that deter you. They have been operating in the NE for decades.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by EclecticEars

While searching for flights, I've discovered that I can fly on American from LAX to Owensboro with only one stop each way in St. Louis (with the STL-OWB leg contracted with Cape Air).

I still have friends and relatives in Kentucky that I visit and will continue to visit 1-3x yearly, even though I've moved away from the state.

Is OWB a nice airport--manageable (seems like it would be), friendly staff, some dining or snack option, etc.? What has been your experience, or at least those of people you know?

Thank you!

Don't do it. Awful, scary small airport. Fly into Louisville and make the drive. Oh wait, you hate Louisville so much, I don't know if you can fathom it?

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Don't do it. Awful, scary small airport. Fly into Louisville and make the drive. Oh wait, you hate Louisville so much, I don't know if you can fathom it?

Once again, the expert speaks without personal knowledge. The Owensboro-Daviess County Airport is one of the finest facilities when it comes to safe air travel in the US. I have flown many flights in and out of OWB in private planes. I grew up 20 miles south and I know the commitment of the city and county. This is the Wendell Ford home base. He was the chairman of the US Senate Aviation Committee and he made darn certain that his home base was well taken care of.

I cannot and did not comment on the airline services in and out of OWB because I have only flown one commercial flight out of OWB and that was on Ozark Airlines in 1965.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by tomocox

Once again, the expert speaks without personal knowledge. The Owensboro-Daviess County Airport is one of the finest facilities when it comes to safe air travel in the US. I have flown many flights in and out of OWB in private planes. I grew up 20 miles south and I know the commitment of the city and county. This is the Wendell Ford home base. He was the chairman of the US Senate Aviation Committee and he made darn certain that his home base was well taken care of.

I cannot and did not comment on the airline services in and out of OWB because I have only flown one commercial flight out of OWB and that was on Ozark Airlines in 1965.

Wrong. I have flown out of there. It is scary and small. I do business all over KY still. Avoid the airport is still my advice. And I am basing this on 2 trips there within the last 3 years....not a flight in 1965.

Overall, I am not a huge fan of Owensboro as compared to similar sized cities...Paducah and Bowling Green come to mind as superior in that size range. I must admit on my last visit, however, I was impressed with some upgrades along the river downtown.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Don't do it. Awful, scary small airport. Fly into Louisville and make the drive. Oh wait, you hate Louisville so much, I don't know if you can fathom it?

Nice dig, bro.

I've flown into Evansville, IN and San Luis Obispo, CA (uber tiny) before. Neither are quite as small as OWB, but still quite small. I wouldn't mind trying it at least once.

I've flown into CVG (Cincy), LEX (Bluegrass) and SDF (Louisville), primarily SDF. I survived and, in fact, like SDF. The only bad flight experience I've had at SDF was flying to California on United in 2010, and that's more of a United problem than a people-of-Louisville problem. In general, however, Kentucky does airports well, maybe because it is a smaller state that can more easily maintain smaller airports. California has some nice small airports (Oakland, Long Beach, Orange County), but, by contrast, could sorely stand to improve SFO, LAX and OAK.

[kygman]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Don't do it. Awful, scary small airport. Fly into Louisville and make the drive. Oh wait, you hate Louisville so much, I don't know if you can fathom it?

Evansville, In. has a good airport and it's not that far from Owensboro, if you don't want to land at the Owensboro airport, jcm.

[tomocox]

OWB is by no means small! Other than it's passenger operations, it is one of the largest commercial airports in the state.

Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Evansville Regional Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blue Grass Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Louisville International Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nashville International Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I included Evansville and Nashville due to the proximity and number of passengers.

Again, I am writing only with regards the capacity and safety of the various airports. Owensboro is what it is. It has a very small passenger presence and that may be inconvenient. The air equipment may not be on the level of Boeing 777 or Airbus 380, but safety is not an issue in any way.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by kygman

Evansville, In. has a good airport and it's not that far from Owensboro, if you don't want to land at the Owensboro airport, jcm.

Yeah Evansville was ok. Regionally, the upgrades to Bluegrass in Lexington are very impressive.

SDF is a great small airport, but it is embarrassingly small for a metro area of almost 1.5 million. SDF needs direct flights to LAX, Seattle, and a few other western locations. Other than that, SDF has as IMO the best airport in the state for the combination of price, ease of getting in and out, and manageable size. To be honest, SDF has almost as many good direct flights as NKY/Cincy at sometimes a fraction of the cost since CVG lost its hub status.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by tomocox

OWB is by no means small! Other than it's passenger operations, it is one of the largest commercial airports in the state.

...

Again, I am writing only with regards the capacity and safety of the various airports. Owensboro is what it is. It has a very small passenger presence and that may be inconvenient. The air equipment may not be on the level of Boeing 777 or Airbus 380, but safety is not an issue in any way.

"OWB is by no means small!" Yeah, if you live in Kentucky. San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Redding, and Stockton are small but functioning commercial airports. No one here in California would refer to them as "by no means small."

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Yeah Evansville was ok. Regionally, the upgrades to Bluegrass in Lexington are very impressive.

SDF is a great small airport, but it is embarrassingly small for a metro area of almost 1.5 million. SDF needs direct flights to LAX, Seattle, and a few other western locations. Other than that, SDF has as IMO the best airport in the state for the combination of price, ease of getting in and out, and manageable size. To be honest, SDF has almost as many good direct flights as NKY/Cincy at sometimes a fraction of the cost since CVG lost its hub status.

I didn't like EVV much; rude TSA personnel. They didn't steal anything of mine or strip search me, but their attitude was very curt. LEX is awesome--small, friendly, manageable, comfortable, almost homey. I agree with you that SDF is the biggest bang for the buck in the Ohio Valley--only Dayton may have SDF beat in quality, but that's just going on what I've been told.

SDF did offer flights to L.A. a few years ago, I believe. What happened there, I don't know.

There are only five commercial airports in all of Kentucky: SDF, CVG, LEX, OWB, and PAD (Paducah). London-Corbin has the capacity to offer commercial flights, I believe, but does not at this current time. I believe U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers has been talked to to secure funding to upgrade the airports in Somerset and Pikeville to commercial capability, but nothing to my knowledge has been done on those projects and I'm not sure Pikeville could sustain enough commercial air travel. The London/Corbin/Somerset general region probably could, however.

Personally, I'd like to see Elizabethtown/Hardin County go commercial. They can serve as an alternative to Louisville and western Kentucky, have a population that's growing fast enough because of BRAC/Fort Knox and proximity to Louisville, and is otherwise a fairly economically progressive community. The population in Hardin County has already cracked 100,000, and I'm sure not all Ft. Knox personnel are registered Hardin Co. residents, so that figure is probably reasonably close to 110,000. I guess I'd also like to see London-Corbin go commercial; great location off I-75 between KY 80/Rogers Parkway and US 25E and also part of another growing region of the state.