LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport unveiled its brand new operations center Wednesday, part of a $400 million ongoing improvement program.
The space was unused for years, but now, it’s the hub of communications for the airport. Employees monitor all the operations at the airport 24 hours a day from individual work desks and a wall mounted with 14 video screens. It’s an $18.5 million investment.
“Lots of different things have to happen for the passenger experience to be complete from the start to the finish,” said Megan Thoben, SDF’s director of operations and business development. “So we're really the ones that are bringing all of those people together and communicating everything that's going on so that it's a seamless process for the passenger."
From the nerve center, employees monitor everything from parking to news, emergencies, flight changes, UPS, security and more. And part of the investment includes a technology upgrade so that all the information can go mobile.
“All of this is also connected to our mobile devices, and we carry around iPads and iPhones," Thoben said. "So we can really be anywhere helping any passenger, helping any tenant, but still have all the information we need."
Operations Command Center at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport
Louisville Region Airport Authority Executive Director Dan Mann said this space launches SDF as an industry leader, and that impacts everything from passenger experience to airline investments.
“I want to be the best airport in the country,” Mann said.” This started the whole terminal project. We started looking at this and said, you know what, we need to take this through the entire terminal if we want to be best in class. So this was really the first step in this entire terminal project that will last another four or five years.”
The 5,600-square-foot space also houses the Badging Office, Conference Room and Training Room.
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