RE: CVG (Covington airport)

Yes, it's not that bad as the crow flies, except the population center of the Cincinnati metro area is not in downtown Cincinnati. Most people that live in the metro area live north of the city in Ohio (check it out on a map). For people that live in Fairfield, Hamilton, Mason, Lebanon, Sharonville, really almost any suburb of Cincinnati, CVG is a boondoggle and terribly inconvenient.

Even people that live in the western half of the city of Cincinnati (aka Western Hills) have a tough time getting across the river to the airport. If you live in Delhi (pronounced DEL-high btw), you basically have to take the Anderson Ferry across the river to get to the airport. A ferry. Even if you live downtown or on the east side, you have to fight the (usually awful) traffic on the Brent Spence Bridge funneling into Kentucky to get to CVG.

With CVG, it's not just the distance, it's the convenience factor for the majority of the metro area's residents. Basically, CVG is convenient to one thing: Northern Kentucky. if you live there, it's great, but few people do. It's really a horribly planned airport, on the same level as IAD if you ask me.