Two new faces in the Colorado Springs Airport leadership team will help bring the facility into the future.
Airport officials announced this week that Alex Kovacs has been named the new assistant director of construction and finance, while Jim Lovewell has been appointed the new assistant director of airline affairs, marketing and communications.
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Airport officials split up the four teams that previously were overseen by the business administration department and redistributed them under both Kovacs' and Lovewell's direction, the airport's Director of Aviation Greg Phillips said.
Kovacs, who begins his new position after Labor Day, will lead the design and construction and finance teams. Lovewell began his new post Monday, overseeing the marketing and communications and air service departments.
Both men join Brett Miller, assistant director of aviation for operations and maintenance, to support growth and development at the local airport, officials said in a news release.
Kovacs' and Lovewell's roles "give us the opportunity for our senior management group to be able to focus our efforts, provide the support our teams need and make sure we're able to sustain momentum for the growth we've seen over the last two years," Phillips said.
They will "help us not only do the things we have on our plate, but also new things," he added.
The Colorado Springs Airport reached nearly 1.2 million emplanements in 2023, a 10% increase compared to 2022. It was the highest number of emplanements in 24 years, officials announced in January.
The uptick followed a sharp decline in passenger traffic during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when only about 700,000 passengers came through the airport in 2020, the city's 2024 budget states.
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The airport is in the middle of a multi-year, $36 million project to modernize its concourse built in 1994, known as ElevateCOS. The project is part of a broader 20-year, $1.2 billion airport master plan the city approved in 2022 to guide planning of future airport facilities.
Started last September and expected to be completed in May 2026, ElevateCOS will make the terminal more inclusive and efficient by adding restrooms that are compliant with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, accessible ramp design at the concourse entrance, and other accessibility upgrades.
It will also expand concessions and upgrade aging infrastructure with new LED lighting, carpet and terrazzo flooring, gate counters, podiums and larger hold rooms, among other upgrades.
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The airport is also considering adding more gates to the concourse, implementing covered parking options, and building a new maintenance facility by the runway, among other improvements — while paying close attention to costs, Phillips said.
"All these projects add up and it gets expensive. We need to think about how we fund them while at the same time sticking to one of our key strategic goals, and that's keeping our costs low. ... We will be thoughtful about how we spend our money and how we develop," Phillips said.
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Lovewell most recently held roles with the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & EDC, where he served as its chief defense development officer for a year in 2022, then as its chief operating officer since January 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He retired from the Air Force after serving for 24 years and managed a range of aviation projects and operations, the news release from the airport said.
According to Lovewell's LinkedIn page, he previously served as director of staff for headquarters, Space Operations Command for U.S. Space Force from June 2020 through August 2021; as chief in the Office of Defense Partnership at U.S. Central Command from August 2018 to June 2020; and as chief of the joint logistics ops center and executive officer to the director of logistics and engineering at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command from July 2014 to July 2018.
For 16 years, Kovacs served in various roles with the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority that owns and operates both the Reno-Tahoe and Reno- Stead airports in Reno, Nev.
Kovacs most recently served as the airport authority's director of finance since September 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. Previously, he held roles as its manager of finance and budget from October 2018 to September 2021, and as its senior financial analyst from September 2008 to October 2018.
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Phillips said he "feel(s) very confident" Kovacs' and Lovewell's previous work experience will be a boon for the enterprise.
"In the end, it's all about what's in the best interest of our community. How do we support it? How do we help it grow? How do we help meet the needs of our community? ... I feel this is the right time and the right people to help us move forward," he said.
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