Our feature OKI Wanna Know is where we try to land the questions buzzing overhead. Two questions are in a holding pattern for this week's edition, with WVXU's Bill Rinehart.
Naomi Gerwin of Hyde Park has a question about something over her neighborhood.
"I'm noticing a lot more big planes going in and coming out of Lunken," she says. "It seems to be much more active, and I didn't know if I'm correct, or what's going on, or if there's a change in management or a change of policy, or what."
The division manager leading operations at Lunken says the number of noise complaints went up during the pandemic, but it wasn't because there were more planes or louder flights. Jaime Edrosa says it was because more people were working at home during the day — when the airport is the busiest — and they were more likely to notice it.
But Gerwin says she's only been in her current home for two years, so there must be something else going on.
Edrosa says there has been more air traffic at Lunken, but not a huge amount.
"It hasn't really grown significantly. It's grown modestly," he says. "We go up and we go down based on the economy. If the economy's not doing so well, it'll go down. If the economy's doing well like it has been the last couple of years, especially post-pandemic, it's gone up. But I wouldn't say it was significant numbers."
Edrosa says if you stretch the time frame, yes, operations at Lunken have taken off.
"I would say that we might be definitely busier today than 20 years ago," he says. "We certainly aren't at our historic highs, which is almost twice as many operations as we have today."
The city of Cincinnati accepted a gift of land that would become Lunken Airfield in 1925, and pilot Dixie Davis established the first permanent airfield there. By 1928, a subsidiary of American Airlines operated 10 aircraft there, and Lunken Airport was formally dedicated two years later.
"Starting from when airlines started to exist, this was the airport that was the commercial airport," Edrosa says. "If you wanted to fly on one of the classic carriers like American, or TWA, or any of those type of airlines, you would have come here to Lunken to fly out."
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Over the years, the airport grew to handle more traffic. The runways were lengthened, and the Little Miami River was relocated to accommodate the expansion.
Edrosa says in 1937, just after the terminal building was opened, there was a major flood.
"If you actually go out to the terminal building and you're looking at the side of the building that's facing the airfield, which has a clock on it, directly to the left of that terminal building you will see a black brick," he says. "That is how high the river came that year when it flooded."
Will the building ever take flight again?
Speaking of the terminal building, David Schlaudecker of Columbia Tusculum pedals by it all the time on the Lunken Trail.
"It breaks my heart to see the old restaurant falling into disrepair and that beautiful building," he says. "It's now got boarded-up windows, and some broken windows. What's going to happen to the old Sky Galley restaurant area and that building?"
The Sky Galley closed in September 2020, and the city asked for proposals for what to do with the terminal. Jaime Edrosa says that brought out stories from people who had fond memories there.
" 'I remember going to the restaurant with my mom, my dad, my family, my grandfather...' " he repeats. " 'We used to plane-watch. I used to meet up with friends there to have drinks or to have a meal.' I get that all the time. And when we put out that request for proposals we didn't get any proposals submitted. None."
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Edrosa says since then, a company has stepped forward with a big idea.
"It included a hotel, a restaurant, a bar, event space. That developer is the developer that two years down the road we are continuing to work with to make that project a reality."
He says the developer with the proposal has a history of working with older buildings.
"From what plans that I've seen, articles that I've read, they are looking to preserve as much of that building and the historic parts that it has as part of that project."
There isn't a timetable for any work yet, but the city did release a statement:
"The City of Cincinnati’s work with VR Group, led by Guy Van Rooyen, to redevelop the iconic Lunken Airport Terminal Building into a boutique hotel and event space is ongoing. The City is working closely with the Developer on the pivotal resubmission of the FAA 743 review, financing, design, construction, and operations, as well as how all those pieces interact with the litany of regulations governing the project site. The City is excited about providing world-class amenities to our Lunken Airport and bringing this transformative investment to our East End neighborhood."
