Barkley Regional Airport is 14 miles west of Paducah, in McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is used for general aviation and sees one airline, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. 100 people are employed at the airport. The only airline is Contour Airlines, with Embraer 145 flights to Charlotte. Barkley Regional Airport is the 5th busiest airport in Kentucky. A new terminal building is under construction, set to open in 2023, replacing the current terminal which has been in use since the mid-1950's. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. Federal Aviation Administration records say this airport had 21,654 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 18,542 in 2009 and 19,903 in 2010. History Barkley Regional Airport is named after former Vice President of the United States Alben W. Barkley, who was from western Kentucky. The airport was previously served by Northwest Airlink (operated by Mesaba Airlines) Saab 340 regional turboprops with service to Memphis International Airport. When Northwest Airlines merged with Delta Air Lines, service to Memphis from Paducah was discontinued. New airline service began when Chicago-based United Airlines started daily Canadair CRJ200 regional jets nonstop to Chicago O'Hare International Airport with this service operated by SkyWest Airlines flying as United Express on behalf of United. Service began in the winter of 2010. This service was replaced by Contour Airlines on December 6, 2022 with nonstop flights to Charlotte, NC, using Embraer 145 regional jets. Originally built as a military airfield in 1941, thanks to the efforts of then Senator Alben Barkley, the airfield was originally used to facilitate U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 bomber crew training which was taking place at nearby Dyersburg, TN. In 1945 the U.S. government deeded the land to the city of Paducah and McCracken County, making it available for civilian use. On April 1, 1946, a Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S Air Lines) Douglas DC-3 was the first airline flight out of Paducah and the airport has had scheduled airline flights ever since. Chicago and Southern was then acquired by Delta Air Lines which in turn continued to serve Paducah. Ozark Airlines arrived in 1951. According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), two airlines were serving Paducah in 1976: Delta with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets nonstop from Evansville and Memphis as well as direct, no