Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., has tapped the joint venture of AECOM Hunt/Skanska to provide design-build services on its planned $575-million airport renovation.
Called Elevate CVG—for its airport code—the phased program aims to expand and renovate the facility's main terminal and two concourses totaling 51 gates. The facilities date from 1993 and were last refurbished in 2012. Plans call for larger ticketing, security checkpoint and baggage claim areas; replacement of the baggage handling system; new restrooms; and improvements to Federal Inspection Service areas. A tunnel containing an automated people mover linking the terminal and concourses will also undergo renovation.
STV, Inc., is the program’s construction manager for Elevate CVG, while BEUMER Group was selected in 2023 to oversee the new baggage handling system.
According to airport presentations, AECOM Hunt/Skanska’s initial $208-million effort will include design and preconstruction services, enabling projects for the baggage handling system in 2025, and the scheduled early 2026 start of construction of vertical circulation improvements and an infill building for the expanded security screening area. The project team will submit a guaranteed maximum price based on 60% design documents for the program’s remaining scope, which will be presented to CVG’s governing board for approval in the first quarter of 2026.
Plans call for the entire program to be completed in mid-2029, with funding to come from the airport’s capital budget, general revenue bonds and passenger facility charges
Near Covington, Ky., CVG is classified as a medium-hub primary commercial service facility, and is the nation’s 12th-largest cargo airport. Passenger demand at CVG has gradually rebounded from substantial service cutbacks by Delta Airlines and other carriers in the early 2000s, and the 2020 pandemic. During the first nine months of 2024, the airport handled nearly 7 million passengers, an 8% increase over the same period last year.
