New maintenance facility, new flights, modernized terminal signal growth for Evansville airport
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Evansville Regional Airport is starting the new year with a brand-new maintenance facility. The new 43,000-square-foot building is closer to the terminal and nearly twice the size of the former structures.
Since the facility opened at the end of November, the maintenance staff has been relocating vehicles, equipment and other content. Over the weekend, the team worked out of the new building to respond to a winter storm that brought snow and ice to roads and runways.
“If you’re an airport, the most difficult thing you have to deal with typically, hopefully, is winter operations. It is the most time-consuming. It is the most stressful,” said Nate Hahn, EVV’s executive director. “And to remove that stress from my team, I’m excited about it for them.”
In addition to the new maintenance facility, EVV added three flights in 2024. Breeze Airways introduced new service to Orlando International (MCO), Allegiant Air initiated new flights to Tampa/St. Pete (PIE) and American Airlines returned service to Chicago (ORD).
The new flights complement EVV’s other air service offerings, including nonstop service to Charlotte (CLT) and Dallas (DFW) on American, Atlanta (ATL) on Delta Air Lines and Orlando/Sanford (SFB) and summer seasonal Destin/Ft. Walton Beach (VPS) on Allegiant.
The airport is still in talks with Delta about reinstating Detroit (DTW) flights, which EVV lost along with Chicago service in 2022.
“All the airlines have been happy with how we’ve gotten back to normal again,” said Hahn. “[Detroit is] still at the top of our list. It’s still the one we’re going to talk about the most. We have companies in our area that need that.”
Hahn said it’s important that a community the size of Evansville continues to digest the services it has.
Also in the new year, United Companies Air Center—the airport’s fixed base operator formerly known as Tri-State Aero—will celebrate the opening of its new general aviation terminal at EVV.
“It’s newer, modern, replacing a very old facility,” Hahn said. “We’ll have the official ribbon cutting in the spring once they finish some of the landscaping and some of the asphalt work.”
Maintenance facility
Several factors determined the need for a new EVV maintenance facility, such as the location of the former buildings, which were two and a half miles away. The new structure is near the terminal and no longer a 10-minute drive.
However, Hahn said the main reason for the new maintenance building was the lack of space for large equipment at the former facilities.
“We were trying to purchase new snow removal equipment. Not that we get a lot of snow down here, but when we do, obviously, it’s serious. The equipment size that we would have liked to purchase wouldn’t fit in the old buildings,” he said.
The airport used cash reserves to pay for the $13.5 million project. Hahn said user fees from passenger tickets will replenish that revenue source over the next several years. The airport also tapped into federal funding from the pandemic, which sped up the timeline.
“If you had asked me three years ago, or in 2019…the banner year at Evansville from a passenger standpoint, I would have told you a new maintenance facility is still 10 or 15 years off,” said Hahn.
The new maintenance building offers several unique features, including spacious bays with ample storage for large snow removal and maintenance equipment, offices, conference and meeting rooms with a kitchen, shower and locker rooms and overnight bunks for staff during weather emergencies.
“We’re small enough staff that if we have significant winter operations, we will have staff spend the night,” Hahn said. “They’re not having to go back to their homes. They’re not out on the roads.”
Flight additions
The three flights EVV incorporated into its schedule in 2024 were added gradually throughout the year.
“Coming out of the pandemic, we’ve been focused on getting air service back, and we’ve been successful with that. We launched Breeze [to Orlando} last spring, Allegiant’s new service [to Tampa/St. Pete] in June and then Chicago returned to us in the fall [with American],” said Hahn.
While the airport remains focused on securing Detroit service again, Hahn said there’s good reason to proceed slowly.
“It’s important that a community of our size continues to digest what we’ve got,” he said. “If you just dump a bunch of capacity at an airport, the airport struggles because it can’t absorb it quickly enough. We’ve done a good job of pacing things.”
Leslie Fella, EVV’s marketing and air service director, told Inside INdiana Business the airport achieved a 21.3% increase in passenger traffic for November year-over-year, and passenger traffic was up 13.49% annually year-over-year.
“Long-time Evansville market airline partner American Airlines achieved their busiest day on record at EVV in November. They achieved their busiest month on record in October. All airlines and routes at EVV continue to perform incredibly well,” she said in an email.
United Companies Air Center
The next big announcement at EVV will likely be the grand opening of United Companies Air Center’s new general aviation terminal. The 10,000-square-foot facility—costing about $7.5 million—replaces the decades-old 4,500-square-foot structure.
“We talk often about how EVV is the front door to our community, and we spend a significant amount of money to improve the front door of this side of the facility. The terminal, the passenger experience, the parking, all of that experience,” said Hahn. “It’s time we did the other side of the airfield, too.”
Hahn said UCAC’s new building includes a lounge for pilots and meeting space for business deals.
“If you want to do site development in our region now, you can fly over the space on your way in, come land and go inside the general aviation terminal,” he said. “You can have your meeting right there. You can get back on your plane and fly back, and we can have development deals done on-site that are in a more modern facility.”
The new general aviation terminal also benefits large charter groups involved with entertainment and sports, including the University of Southern Indiana’s Division I athletic opponents.
“They’re having more sports teams that are going to be flying in. They’re going through that side of the airfield, and so they’ll have a better passenger experience,” said Hahn.
“Our community is choosing EVV”
Hahn said the new maintenance facility and other projects such as the terminal building remodel in 2019 and the solar-covered parking lot addition in 2020 are good community investments.
“[Over the last eight years], we’ve put about $200 million back into the local economy; that’s a big accomplishment for an airport our size,” he said. “By completing the general aviation terminal, the maintenance facility, the parking lot expansion, there’s $25-$30 million right there in the last 24 to 36 months.”
Hahn noted 2025 airport projects will be on a smaller scale, including road work improvements and rental car facility updates. He thanked passengers for flying out of EVV because he believes air service is not only a “use it or lose it” concept but also a “use it to get it and keep it” mentality.
“The reason that St. Pete was so successful and Breeze has been successful, the reason that Chicago’s come back and come back at the level it has and the reason that Detroit will come back is because our community is choosing EVV over some competitor airports,” Hahn said. “Getting additional service only comes because passengers are choosing EVV.”