The last commercial flight from Bowling Green was 44 years ago, but that’s about to change.
The Bowling Green-Warren County regional airport announced Tuesday that Contour Airlines will begin offering service to Atlanta and Destin, Florida.
Airport Manager Rob Barnett says both business and leisure travelers will benefit.
"The corporate traveler will truly benefit because of the cost savings and time savings through Atlanta, and of course, we're all going to benefit from the Destin flight because we all like to go to Destin at a reasonable cost and keep ourselves from being in a car 16 hours round trip," Barnett told WKU Public Radio.
The flights are expected to start the first week of August. Tennessee-based Contour will offer service year-round, seven days a week to Atlanta. Seasonal flights to Destin will be available once a week from April to October.
A consultant’s study found that people living in a ten-county region in southern Kentucky purchased 720,000 tickets in 2013 , with 96% of the flights departing out of Nashville. Barnett hopes Kentucky can recoup some of the tax dollars being lost to Tennessee.
The new state budget includes $750,000 to offset any losses the airport incurs in the first year.
Copyright 2016 WKYU-FM. To see more, visit WKYU-FM.
