It was a momentous occasion for Ogdensburg International Airport (OGS) when Allegiant Air Flight 1711 took off for Florida on New Year’s Eve. The small upstate New York airport was finally breaking the critical 10,000-enplanement threshold to qualify for $1 million of Airport Improvement Program entitlement funding.
After 10 years of planning and negotiating and building, Williamson County Airport Authority recently cut the ribbon on its new terminal. To honor local veterans, it changed the name of the entire facility from Williamson County Regional Airport to Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois (MWA) and named the terminal after a local World War II flying ace and former airport authority chair. Fittingly, MWA dedicated the new Captain Robert W. Duncan Airline Terminal on Veterans Day (2016).
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) recently completed the reconstruction of one of its primary arrivals runways, 4L-22R, and several associated taxiways. Major construction began in April 2016, and the runway reopened just seven months later in early November.
While U.S. presidents like to talk about plans for their first 100 days in office, officials at Northeast Florida Regional Airport (SGJ) can proudly show what they accomplished in 100 days. SGJ closed its existing terminal, tore that structure down and constructed a new 14,000-square-foot facility-all while maintaining flights into and out of the airport.
In early 2014, the city of Dallas and Dallas Love Field (DAL) were in a unique and ultimately timely position from operational and funding perspectives alike. The expiration of the Wright Amendment in October 2014 allowed air carriers to modify flight routes out of DAL, thereby increasing air traffic and changing the aircraft types needed to handle traffic. In addition, the upcoming 2017 expiration of the letter of intent associated with the long-running Love Field Modernization Program will make federal discretionary and entitlement dollars available for airfield-related projects that had been deferred because of the modernization program.
Charlotte Douglas International (CLT) has invested heavily in its airfield maintenance program over the past several years. From airfield markings and lighting to snow removal, landscape operations and wildlife management, the North Carolina airport has committed time and resources to its comprehensive effort.
Charleston International (CHS) is no longer a “small town airport,” and local officials are thrilled with the change. After six consecutive years of passenger growth, CHS broke its previous 2014 record by moving more than 3.4 million travelers through its terminal last year. Volume is up nearly 1.5 million passengers since 2010.
In April, McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas reopened its 14,500-foot primary runway, following a six-month closure. Runway 7L-25R, which handles about one-third of the airport’s traffic, had been temporarily closed from October to April during each of the past two years to replace nearly 366,000 square yards of deteriorated asphalt concrete pavement. Now, aircraft operate on 19-inch-thick, full-strength Portland cement concrete pavement.
When officials at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) began strategizing about how to comply with the recent runway safety area deadline, they did not expect to end up with a new airfield. One decade later, however, that’s essentially what they have.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL) recently wrapped up the installation of an inline baggage screening system in Terminal 3, part of a six-year program to enhance baggage handling and security at the Florida facility
For many years, the only escalator in Minot, ND, was at Woolworth’s, which also had a lunch counter. Today, there’s a new escalator in town-inside the airport’s spanking new terminal, and Minot International (MOT) holds its own claim to fame as the largest airport terminal in North Dakota.
Managing the safety, security and credentialing of employees and outside workers presents complex challenges for airport operators across the globe. U.S. airports, in particular, have found themselves swimming chin-deep in paperwork associated with post-9/11 security regulations.
As of December 9, 2015, travelers flying out of Tijuana’s General Abelardo L. Rodriguez International Airport (TIJ) have a faster and easier way to access the Mexican airport from the U.S. side of the border. Instead of waiting in long lines of vehicles at the San Ysidro or Otay Mesa border crossings, airline passengers can now use the new Cross Border Xpress (CBX) terminal, which spans the U.S.-Mexico border.
As airports become increasingly complex environments to navigate, guests need more help from wayfinding aids. Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) is doing its part to relieve travelers’ stress by installing digital LG directories throughout its two terminals.
How does an airport with just one runway maintain operations while rehabilitating that runway’ After nine months of intense and highly coordinated work on Runway 18-36, Myrtle Beach International (MYR) has some answers.
Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA) travelers are greeted these days by a newly renovated and expanded terminal. Updates were direly needed, reports Airport Director Tony Yaron; and the nearly $38 million multiphase project took five years to complete. “The terminal was overcrowded and aging,” he explains, noting that the facility hadn’t been updated since the mid-1980s. “After 9/11, we had to fit a CT-80 screening device into an old travel agency office between the ticketing offices and the street. Travelers had to schlep bags through the lobby.”
In October, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) opened a $155.5 million consolidated rental agency complex (conrac) funded with customer facility charges. Beyond creating a new onsite facility for rental agencies, officials also carved out more space for customer parking at the Texas airport.
This summer, Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) cut the ribbon on a newly renovated baggage claim building. The $45 million project stripped the airport’s 1950s structure down to its bones and raised up a more open, spacious and light-filled facility – a fitting complement to the inline baggage handling system completed last summer (see Sept. 2015 issue of Airport Improvement for more details).
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) recently completed two massive projects to relight and remark its airfield. Almost all of the work occurred simultaneously, from March 2014 to July 2015. Together, the improvements cost the airport about $34 million – with no outside funding.
Justin Lobb, manager at Immokalee Regional (IMM) in Florida, doesn’t mince words when he recalls how badly the airport’s north-south runway needed a major makeover: “The pavements showed signs of water intrusion and longitudinal cracking. The maze of drainage ditches between the runway and Taxiway B also presented maintenance challenges. Irregular grading had resulted in unsafe ponding and wildlife attraction conditions, and the area was accessible for maintenance only during the dry season.”
The ticketing lobby at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) is once again more open and spacious. Gone are the seven SUV-sized explosives detection system machines that invaded the entry space after 9/11 changed screening requirements. And travelers no longer have to maneuver their luggage to the large, intimidating machines.
Airports Council International (ACI) forecasts that existing airport capacity will need to double by 2031 to handle more than 12 billion passengers and 136 million aircraft movements per year. The collective price tag for capital expenditures needed to service the increased traffic is estimated at more than $1 trillion. Yes, that’s trillion with a “t.”
When Charles M. Schultz-Sonoma County Airport (STS) completed a $55 million runway expansion and improvement project last November, it not only met the congressionally mandated December 31, 2014, deadline for runway safety areas, it also added enough runway length to help attract regional jet traffic.
Commercial airports certainly know where their travelers are going; but many don’t know where they are coming from. Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) in Florida has been tracking such information for about six years, and officials enjoy the rewards that come with being in the know: more targeted advertising campaigns and stronger appeals for additional airline service.
When it came time for Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) to reconstruct its only runway, the management team got creative. Instead of resigning to an extended shutdown that would have effectively put the North Carolina airport out of business for an extensive period, they decided to build a new taxiway and use it as a temporary runway while the existing runway is demolished and reconstructed.
