Compass Airlines, a Northwest Airlines subsidiary that launched service in May, will build a $9.85 million maintenance facility at Louisville International Airport that will employ 70 when it opens in about a year, the company announced yesterday.

Construction of the hangar off Crittenden Drive is expected to begin in the spring.

Compass, which operates regional jets as a Northwest Airlink affiliate and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest, will bring Louisville International its third aircraft maintenance operation.

UPS Airlines, which has its headquarters in Louisville, has a maintenance hangar and Republic Airlines, which handles regional flights for Frontier Airlines, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines, opened a maintenance facility last year.

The addition of Compass could help attract other facilities, said J.D. Nichols, chairman of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority, which owns and operates Louisville International Airport and Bowman Field.

Such businesses "build on each other," he said. More maintenance bays mean more aviation mechanics will concentrate in the area -- and that can act as a magnet to pull in more maintenance hubs, he said.

Louisville outpaced 29 other airports vying for the Compass facility, said the airline's president, John Bendoraitis, in a presentation at the airport. Louisville was chosen partly because it already had a well-established network of service into the airport, he said. Louisville is also close to Compass' three main hubs in Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Memphis, Tenn.

Most important, the airport infrastructure "and the willingness shown by all the partners that we worked with here in Louisville to make this a reality convinced us that Louisville is the ideal location," he said.

Louisville International also benefited from its healthy financial standing, which gives it an A-plus revenue bond rating, said Michael Burris, deputy executive director of finance and administration for the airport authority.

"It's not uncommon for airports to have B bond ratings," he said. "We are up there with the biggest airports in the country, like the New York City airports, the Los Angeles airports, the Washington, D.C., airports. We have tremendous financial strengths."

That strong rating will allow the airport to build the project "at a lower cost than at any of the other cities we were competing with for this project," said Bruce Traughber, director of Louisville's Economic Development Department.

The airport will build the three-bay facility and lease it to Compass, "and we can pass that saving on," Burris said.

Compass also will receive as much as $2.3 million in state incentives over 10 years in the form of tax credits, job-training grants and sales-tax refunds on construction materials, said J.R. Wilhite, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for New Business Development.

Attracting Compass was a joint effort of local and state government, the airport authority and Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce, Nichols said.

Robbie Rudolph, cabinet secretary for Gov. Ernie Fletcher, said that much of the state's attention has gone to upgrading rural airports, but that Louisville International warranted assistance as one of the state's great economic drivers.

"You can't have great economic development without a great airport. It just does not go together, unless you have both," he said.

Compass, based in Chantilly, Va., offers dual-class service on Embraer 175 aircraft, including 12 first-class seats and 64 seats in coach. The airline will operate 10 of its new 76-seat regional jets by the end of the year and plans to operate a fleet of 36 by the end of 2008.

With one of the new Embraers on display at the airport presentation, Bendoraitis touted the features of the "state-of-the art" aircraft, which he said is larger than the typical regional jet, boasts all-leather seats, adjustable headrests, more overhead bin storage space and two lavatories and can accommodate full galley service.

Bendoraitis said the maintenance operation wouldn't bring more flights to Louisville, but would mean that more Northwest passengers would travel in the new jets, rather than older, smaller regional jets.

The Embraer has a nonstop range of nearly 1,700 miles and is more fuel efficient than traditional regional jets. "And you won't bump your head unless you're taller than 6-foot-7, so you can stand up inside," he said.

Traughber said the additional headroom would make a customer of Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

"On behalf of the mayor, who is 6-foot-4, I can promise you that this will be his airline of choice," Traughber told Bendoraitis.

Greater Louisville Inc. President and CEO Joe Reagan, who is also 6 feet, 4 inches, added his approval. "I've bumped my head many times getting into regional jets," he said.

Source: Courier-Journal.com