The cargo decades: Burlington, Kitty Hawk, and the second airport inside the airport

1985 — 2020

For twenty years the freighters ran the night: Fort Wayne's second airport — the cargo airport inside the southwest field — began in 1985, when Burlington Air Express, later BAX Global, opened a hub on the field; United had flown scheduled DC-8 freighters in during the 1970s and a local firm, Jet Air Freight & Parcel Delivery, had worked the cargo side in the propeller age, but the hub era was new. Fort Wayne bid for the crown in 1991 and lost it twice over: the airport was a finalist for the U.S. Postal Service's Express Mail hub, which went to Indianapolis (and closed in 2001 when the Postal Service handed its air work to FedEx), and the same year Burlington moved its hub to Toledo. Eight years later the field won bigger and lost bigger. A hub for Kitty Hawk Aircargo opened in 1999 in a 600,000-square-foot air cargo center on the southwest side, built with $24 million in bonds, with the main runway extended for the larger freighters the hub was expected to draw; around that time Fort Wayne International stood second only to Indianapolis in air cargo volume in Indiana. On 15 October 2007 Kitty Hawk filed for Chapter 11, and on 29–30 October it ceased its scheduled network operations, laying off some 500 employees; its last revenue flight followed in January 2008. The airport was left holding the building and the bonds: it raised its property tax levy significantly solely to pay them, found new tenants for the cargo center over time — FedEx Express among them, which moved in part after the weather damage to Hangar 40 — and made the final bond payment in 2020. FedEx and UPS both still fly daily Boeing 757 freighters into the field, from Memphis and Louisville respectively.

Sources:

1. Fort Wayne International Airport history record, air cargo section (airport authority, via the airport's published history) — the 1970s DC-8 freighters, the 1985 Burlington hub, the 1991 postal finalist bid and Toledo move, the Kitty Hawk hub, the $24 million bonds, the levy and the 2020 final payment.
2. Kitty Hawk Aircargo corporate record — the 15 October 2007 Chapter 11 filing, the 29 October cessation announcement, the last revenue flight of 8 January 2008.