Outgoing Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport CEO Candance McGraw is often credited for helping turn around the struggling airport throughout the 2010s.
During her tenure as CEO, McGraw has overseen the revamp of the airport’s cargo operation, including the introduction and expansion of DHL Express’ North American superhub and Amazon Air’s North American hub. In addition, CVG consolidated terminal space, debuted multiple low-cost airlines and repurposed multiple vacant or underutilized parcels of land on the airport’s property.
This past January, McGraw announced her plans to step back from her role and transition into retirement in June of 2025. She was hired as CVG’s CEO in 2011.
On Tuesday morning, McGraw was the keynote speaker at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Eggs ‘N Issues breakfast panel. She discussed several critical facility development projects that will be ongoing in CVG’s post-McGraw era.
Currently, one of CVG’s most pressing goals is reinvigorating various airport facilities. One such project is the North Cargo Village, or what McGraw calls the Global Logistics Park.
The airport plans to develop three cargo forwarding facilities, three freighter facilities, and a sorting facility on an unused rental car parking lot on the north side of the airport’s campus. The construction of CVG’s Global Logistics Park will allow it to expand and diversify its cargo operation.
Cargo forwarders are intermediaries between shipping companies and the cargo’s final destination. In essence, shipping companies drop off their goods, and then the forwarders send them to their final destination.
Freighter facilities are storage warehouses. While Amazon and DHL focus on the express shipping of smaller packages, CVG wants to have the capacity to store and ship large parcels and high-value goods that don’t have time-sensitive delivery requirements. CVG currently outsources this type of cargo to other airports in the Midwest.
McGraw said she hopes the facility can bring in several smaller cargo carriers: “Not the DHL’s, not the Amazon’s—we have lots of freight moving through the airport that isn’t necessarily the same day, not so time-sensitive, and we didn’t have a place to accommodate that business. Well, we do now.”
Another key project McGraw discussed was CVG’s Hanger Row development, which she described as a dedicated area specifically tailored to maintaining and upgrading aircraft.
Hanger Row is being developed on acreage on the southwest side of the airport’s campus.
“This site could probably accommodate another three, four, five hangars,” McGraw said. “It can accommodate, in my mind, all the avionics shops, paint shops, manufacturers.”
The airport is currently courting funding from various governmental entities, such as the state of Kentucky and Boone County. During the last legislative session, McGraw mentioned that the Kentucky General Assembly earmarked approximately $20 million in funding for the project.
“I think this can unlock a whole new development for CVG relative to hangars, and I’d love to see aircraft manufacturing done in that area as well, so that’s what we’ll be pushing,” she said.
Lastly, McGraw discussed Elevate CVG – a multi-year terminal redevelopment campaign that aims to boost operational efficiency, modernize facilities and improve the customer-facing experience.
Some of the campaign’s highlights include modernizing the airport’s baggage system, expanding the capacity of the ticketing counter and customer service building, refurbishing the airport’s trains and train tunnels, and revamping the primary customer-facing area for offboarding passengers.
McGraw noted that Elevate CVG is likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars over the project’s lifetime.
NKY Chamber of Commerce President Brent Cooper, the panel’s moderator, touted CVG’s ongoing facility upgrades, saying they’ll improve the quality of life for Northern Kentuckians.
“All these investments related to a higher quality of life,” Cooper said. “We talked about the low cost of living, high-quality life, the ability to go anywhere; I mean, it’s just been a home run.”
