UPDATE:
9 On Your Side has learned that a celebratory event to mark the groundbreaking of Amazon's new $1.5 billion air hub will take place on May 14, 2019.
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport CEO Candace McGraw announced the event during a recent airport board meeting. Stay with 9 On Your Side for continuing coverage of the impact of the Amazon facility on the region.
ORIGINAL STORY:
HEBRON, Ky. -- A new Amazon facility at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will be a “mega project for the region,” a Boone County official said.
Amazon’s Prime Air hub is expected to break ground May 14 near the southern edge of the airport, according to Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore.
The hub will add more than 2,700 jobs to CVG’s existing 10,000 jobs, according to the airport’s website.
Moore discussed the impact of Amazon’s facility at a recent panel discussion with judge executives from Kenton and Campbell Counties at Northern Kentucky University on Tuesday.
Amazon has leased more than 900 acres of land from CVG for the project, which will be the largest such facility for the company. Amazon’s $1.4 billion investment will support over 100 planes; the hub will require aircraft mechanics, pilots and co-pilots, air traffic controllers and management, Moore said.
Moore also believes the hub will generate a large ripple effect in terms of economic development.
"We could have well over 100 other companies locate here in our region to be near the Prime Air hub," Moore said.
UPS’ $1 billion expansion of its Louisville air hub in 2002 brought 172 companies to the city, according to Moore.
Mark Policinski, CEO of the Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana Regional Council of Governments, said he expects a lot of companies to move in around the airport.
"We're talking about thousands of new jobs coming to this region in a relatively very short period of time," Policinski said.
