GALLATIN COUNTY,Ky — Kentucky’s newest airport is officially open for business. Gallatin County Regional Airport becomes the newest addition to the state’s list of general aviation airports.

Area leaders and Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., celebrated the opening with a ribbon cutting Wednesday. The governor says this project will help bolster the economy in that area.

“When we talk about our booming economy, we expect this airport to be a home base for over 20 aircraft and host approximately 13,000 takeoffs every year,” Beshear said. “This will help businesses in the region with corporate travel, making it easier to invest and expand right here in Kentucky.”

Gallatin County Regional Airport is the only general aviation airport between Louisville and Cincinnati (Spectrum News 1/Mason Brighton)

Construction on the airport runway began around four years ago. A majority of the project was paid for by the federal government, the rest came from the state and county.

Eventually, a fueling station and terminal building will be added.

“You look around you and if you’d of been here four years ago when we broke ground, you wouldn’t believe what it looks like, but now that aviation is here, we will absolutely be connected to the world,” Gallatin County Judge Executive Ryan Morris said.

David O’Neill was one of a handful of pilots who flew into the airport to celebrate its opening. He says he’s excited to be here for this big moment. 

David O’Neill sits in his Cessna airplane that he flew into Gallatin for the airport's ribbon cutting ceremony (Spectrum News 1/Mason Brighton)

“This was an important event to get to because we just don’t build new airports in the United States anymore, so this is a pretty big deal,” O’Neill said. “One of the guys in the aviation industry that’s out here today was saying there are currently seven new airports coming online in the United States and five of those are in Alaska, so the fact that one of the only two remaining is here in Kentucky is a pretty big deal just goes to show you how rare of an event it is.”

David Clark, a general aviation pilot from Boone County, says he is excited about the airport’s opening. Clark adds Gallatin could potentially be his new home airport.

“To fly, I have to go over to Cincinnati and work over in Ohio, so you know I’m spending my revenue out of state and paying the Ohio taxes when I could be paying taxes to Kentucky,” Clark said.

Thanks to years of hard work from both the state and federal governments, Kentucky’s smallest county now has a resource that will benefit the area for decades.