LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The 150th running of the Kentucky Derby is just around the corner and soon enough visitors will pour into Louisville ready for the fastest two minutes in sports.
As of Tuesday, Dan Mann, the executive director of the Muhammad Ali International Airport said they ready to welcome everyone to town. Despite the construction around arrival check-in baggage claim, they want to ensure nobody will waste their time at the airport and is welcomed with a great experience.
Multiple airlines plan to bring thousands of visitors in and out of Louisville next week for the big event.
"We want to have this place as open as possible," Mann said. "I mean this is a 24/7 operation but all the construction that you see now downstairs, those walls will come down. All of the construction will be wrapped up and ready to go for Wednesday when the first wave of visitors come to Louisville for the very first time."
A big part of the construction is expanding the TSA checkpoints as well.
"We've added two lanes so we've gone from five lanes to seven," Mann said. "We've worked with the airlines to stretch out their departures on Sunday. There's still stuff going on, there's still a few construction walls up, but by and large it will be down, operational and 100% ready."
The airport isn't the only place expecting high traffic of travelers. Communications and public relations manager for Louisville Tourism Rosanne Mastin said the Kentucky Derby becomes a whole season of parties and celebrations.
"They're doing catering, they're ordering flowers they're doing all sorts of things," Mastin said. "So all of those businesses will start to see the effect now. The Kentucky Derby is basically Louisville's Super Bowl and we get to host it every single year instead of it moving around from city to city."
Mastin said they've been checking in with hotels, which are currently at 92% occupancy for Derby week. She said this will impact the local economy in a big way.
"We're looking at just Oaks Day and Derby Day, we are expecting to fetch $405 million in the estimated economic impact for this year," Mastin said.
The additional nonstop flights and larger airplanes the multiple airlines at the airport will also contribute to those earnings.
"On Sunday and Monday we'll have 24,000 people just a part in those two days," Mann said. "I think Sunday will be our busiest day. We'll have a lot of people who are leaving Derby, who will be flowing out. But this year, unlike last year, Monday is going to be a very busy day for us. We used to call it departure Sunday, but now it's departure Sunday and Monday."
Mann also mentioned that the increased number of airplanes will not impact UPS Worldport's operations. He said most travelers will be flying in and out during the day time while UPS shipments mainly operate overnight.
Louisville Tourism also wants to remind everyone of their new airport welcome center. When you go down the escalators after getting down from your flight you'll see the blue section downstairs with a sign reading "Welcome to Bourbon City".
Mastin said that's where anyone can find help in scheduling a distillery tour or finding information about the area.
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