A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

With the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby tomorrow at Churchill Downs, Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field (SDF)—located just three miles from the famed racecourse—is preparing for the customary onslaught of private aircraft. While the airport generally sees less than 20 private departures a day, according to statistics from WingX, Derby Week accounts for 10 percent of the private traffic for the year, with as many as 500 operations a day.

 


Dubbed “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports,” the Derby draws tens of thousands of viewers. “We always see exceptionally high demand for private jets at the beginning of May to the race, which is the highest attended horse race in the U.S.” explained Richard Thompson, president of Air Charter Service Americas.

 


His company analyzed the WingX data from last year’s Derby Week and noted there were approximately 1,500 private jet movements into and out of Louisville. “Most of the flights were short hops of less than an hour and a half, with the two most popular routes being out of and back into the New York [area] airports of Teterboro and Westchester County,” Thompson said.

 


Atlantic Aviation, which operates the lone FBO on the field, recently renovated its facility and partnered with the airport and U.S. CBP to create a new general aviation facility for clearing international flights.

Louisville Gears Up for Derby Traffic Tide

The 145th running of the Kentucky Derby is expected to attract hundreds of private aircraft to the area.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN