GlobalAir.com moves into former
FSS at Bowman Field (KLOU)
One of largest aviation Web sites looks to expand new home
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just before the start of the New Year, employees of GlobalAir.com unpacked boxes in new offices beneath the Bowman Field control tower.
Now, as the company settles into the formerly vacant Flight Service Station (FSS), founder and president Jeff Carrithers wants the transition to spark more growth at the airport.
The new offices will allow GlobalAir.com to expand, Carrithers said, spurring economic development in the Louisville area, a community where airports and aviation-related businesses in recent years have created thousands of jobs.
Once a large data center for the FAA, the new Bowman Business Center provides GlobalAir.com with greater network capabilities. Additionally, the increased office space creates opportunity to expand roles and jobs as the Web site adds future services.
“We will occupy 2,300 square feet at this point but will have the availability of approximately 7,000 square feet," Carrithers said.
Working with the Louisville Regional Airport Authority, GlobalAir.com spent more than a year finalizing details for the project.
Skip Miller, executive director and CEO of the airport authority, said he is extremely pleased GlobalAir.com chose the newly refurbished business center as its new corporate home.
Louisville’s two airports, Bowman Field (KLOU) and Louisville International (KSDF), comprise the largest employment center in the city. A 2009 study sponsored by the Louisville Regional Airport Authority showed that the facilities helped create more than 55,600 jobs, leading to nearly $2 billion in payroll and more than $5.6 billion in area spending.
“Global Air brings a new 21st Century dimension to the spectrum of services offered at the storied airport, which is the cradle of aviation in the Louisville area,” Miller said. “It will join a host of fine aviation service companies that call Bowman Field home. The LRAA is very proud to have Jeff Carrithers and company as an important business partner.”
The new home for GlobalAir.com also carries a bit of aviation history as it relocates to what was the busiest airport in the nation during World War II.
Continuously operating in general aviation longer than any other stateside airport, Bowman Field was one of America’s busiest for general-aviation aircraft through the 1960s and `70s. This is fitting, as GlobalAir.com caters mostly to those involved in general and business aviation.
Opening in 1934, the airport’s FSS provided pilots with weather briefings and flight-planning services for more than seven decades
The FAA privatized its networks of FSSs in the mid-2000s, and Lockheed Martin consolidated many of the stations, including the one at Bowman, after it received a federal contract to operate the facilities in 2005.
A sign of the digital times, flight services once provided in the building are now offered online by GlobalAir.com, where pilots can locate airports, check weather, find up-to-date fuel prices and plan trips. Hundreds of thousands regularly visit the Web site, which also hosts one of the largest listings on the Internet for aircraft sales.
For Carrithers, the move is a chance to blend his 15-year-old company’s future with a part of the community’s rich airport history.
“This was an absolutely perfect fit for our company,” he said. “Our employees breathe this stuff. We love the smell of AV gas in the morning.”
About GlobalAir.com
Launched in 1995, GlobalAir.com is one of the largest aviation Web sites on the Internet. It provides aircraft-for-sale listings, FBO fuel prices and flight data for regional airlines, business jets and general aviation. It keeps the aircraft community connected.
Based in Louisville, Ky., the site averages more than 2.3 million page views each month. Its services include an Airport Resource Center, available at GlobalAir.com/airport, aircraft fuel-route mapping through its Max-Trax system, at AirportFuelPrices.com, and aircraft leasing and sales through its Aircraft Exchange, at GlobalAir.com/aircraft-for-sale.
About Bowman Field
Bowman Field (KLOU), established in 1919, is the longest continuously operating general-aviation airport in the United States. It is conveniently located approximately 5 miles from downtown Louisville. Situated on 426 acres, its 17 buildings also include the historic art deco Administration Building built in 1929. The Louisville Regional Airport Authority oversees it and Louisville International Airport (KSDF). For more information, visit FlyLouisville.com.
To get more information on GlobalAir.com’s move to Bowman Field or to schedule an interview, please contact Josh Coffman by phone at (888) 236-4309 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Find additional press releases online at https://www.globalair.com/press/press.aspx.
