TRANSPORTATION
Buffalo Niagara airport's expansion positions it for new decade
Published: January 31, 2010, 12:21 pm
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Now that Buffalo Niagara International Airport has worked its way from one of the most expensive air portals in the nation to one of the least costly, it's time for a drink.
The 1999 expansion of the terminal in Cheektowaga, achieved at a cost of $90 million, helped to accomplish the first goal, making the operation large enough to attract low-cost carriers such as JetBlue, Southwest and AirTran.
Last year's renovation of the building, a $21 million project that also improved the flow of passengers through the security process, led to the availability of the second one.
Delaware North Cos., the Buffalo-based hospitality manager that runs restaurants, hotels and concessions around the world, chipped in some $8 million of that $21 million to upgrade the restaurant offerings at the airport. Among them, a new branch of the local icon Anchor Bar, originator of the Buffalo chicken wing, and a new business titled the Lake Erie Pub.
The federal Transportation Security Administration kicked in $7 million in improvements to the security checkpoints, increasing the number of lanes to nine from six, adding high-tech screening equipment and cutting the average time spent waiting to clear security. The remaining $6 million came from the airport's owner, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.
Douglas Hartmayer, director of public affairs for NFTA, said the location of the Lake Erie Pub, sitting outside the security gates, means that it is accessable to people who aren't flying that day, but are on the premises to pick up arriving travelers, or waiting with departing ones.
Such amenities, Hartmayer said, help make the airport attractive to travelers from around the region, including a significant number of Ontario residents who find it just as easy, and much less expensive, to begin their airborne trips in Buffalo.
The big difference, though, remains the cost.
Hartmayer said that, before the terminal expansion and the resulting arrival of the low-cost airlines, BNIA ranked as the second most expensive on a list of the nation's top 100 airports in terms of average cost of a ticket. At last count, he said, BNIA is the 13th cheapest among the top 100 for average cost per traveler.
"It was a heavy lift," Hartmayer said of the 1999 terminal expansion, which added seven gates and 3,000 parking spaces. "We worked very hard courting those airlines."
It worked. As prices fell, the number of travelers grew. By 2006, the airport counted 5 million people coming or going, a level of traffic it did not expect to reach for another 14 years.
For 2009, passenger arrivals and departures look to be a little shy of that 5 million, largely due to the recession. Still, an expected decrease of 3.5 percent in passenger traffic compares favorably to the 8.8 percent reduction that is the being felt nationwide.
Depending on where they are bound, Canadian residents can save some $500 on a round-trip fare out of Buffalo as compared to originating their trip in Ontario. That explains, Hartmayer said, why 36 percent of those who use the airport's long-term parking facilities have Canadian postal codes.
BNIA now boasts the banners of nine scheduled airlines, with an average of 110 flights daily to any of 19 cities — including major hubs such as Chicago, Atlanta and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which provide links to just about any other destination.
Not counting those who work for the airlines or the restaurants and other concessions, BNIA employs 175 people. Among their more important functions, Hartmayer said, is the award-winning job its crews do to keep the runways clear during the area's many episodes of snowy or otherwise inclement weather.
"We think we are pretty well positioned for the future," Hartmayer said. "We think it is incumbent on us to make the airport as easy to use and as cost-efficient as possible."
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