American Association of Airport Executives—the industry’s highest professional credential—Hahn joined EVV as director of operations and maintenance in 2011 after working in airport operations at Midland International Airport in Texas. The airport is approaching its 2019 record of 242,000 annual enplanements. “We’re on track to be at about 215, maybe 220,000 enplanements this year,” Hahn says. The recovery centers on strategic airline partnerships that expanded significantly in 2024. “Having three airline announcements in a single year is pretty significant. It’s even more significant for an airport our size,” Hahn explains. American Airlines maintains service to Dallas and Charlotte, while Delta connects passengers to Atlanta. Chicago service returned in September 2024 through American Airlines after United’s 2021 departure. Allegiant operates seasonal flights to Orlando Sanford, Destin, and St. Pete Clearwater. Most notably, EVV became Indiana’s first airport to secure Breeze Airways, which launched service to Orlando International in February 2024 with 120seat Embraer E-190 aircraft. BUILDING FOR TOMORROW THROUGH STRATEGIC INFRASTRUCTURE Hahn’s planning philosophy centers on enabling future growth through current projects. “What you want to do is create a plan, then work the plan,” he explains.“Too many times we think we know what it takes to get to the outcome we want, and then we get distracted with everything else.” This approach shaped three major infrastructure completions in 2024. The airport’s new 43,000-square-foot maintenance facility is a transformational upgrade. “We were actually limited in the size of equipment we could use on the airfield because we couldn’t fit it in our old building. It was so old and so small,” Hahn says. “Now we can literally double the size of some of our equipment, so for winter operations and snow removal operations, we’re a lot more efficient as we continue to upgrade our equipment.” EVV also expanded its parking capacity by 200 spaces, but Hahn designed the project with future needs in mind. “We didn’t just expand the parking lot. When we expanded it, we built it such that yes, we added 200 spaces but designed it so that 200 more spaces are ready to go already,” he explains.The expansion incorporated infrastructure for extending the airport’s successful solar-covered parking, currently the largest array of its kind in the Midwest, generating 1.3 megawatts of power.The covered lot transformed from 20-30 percent utilization to over 90 percent capacity. A planned $8-12 million baggage handling system 183 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 09 EVANSVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT
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