BUFFALO, NY - The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) is about to embark on $65 million worth of improvements at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, aimed at making a better experience for customers – particularly for arriving passengers.
One thing lost on many people, according to NFTA Director of Aviation William R. Vanecek, is that the current airport terminal is nearly 20 years old.
“We expanded it twice since the opening with passenger gates, and with aircraft gates,” noted Vanecek. “However, what we didn't do in all that time was to address some other core necessities.”
Vanecek was speaking primarily of needed improvements to baggage claim.
“That will be first and foremost in terms of what customers will notice,” he said, when speaking of the improvements due to be completed in 2019.
“This past year, JD Power and Associates came out with a customer satisfaction survey and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport ranked number two in North America as far as customer satisfaction,” said Vanecek. “The one area where we lost points was in baggage claim, so now we're addressing that area."
The improvements will not only consist of increasing the number of baggage carousels (from 3 to 4) but also installing new, state of the art carousels which will operate more efficiently.
They will feature chutes that send luggage down to circular conveyors below, which will keep the bags entirely in the baggage claim area once they are on the conveyor.
In this fashion, they will consistently be within sight of their owners waiting to claim then, instead of disappearing for a time behind a wall if they fail to catch them on the first rotation.
Vanecek also says it will improve the security of luggage.
Passengers will also be able to get to the baggage claim area on the airport’s lower level once they deplane.
As it stands now, all arriving passengers are funneled through a single departure corridor, located near where departing passengers are attempting to navigate security lines to board outgoing planes.
Vanecek compares the current layout to “fish swimming upstream”.
“It's kind of like a like a salmon run in Alaska," he said.
Improvements call for two new walkways to be built, each on either side of the main concourse, and connected to each terminal.
Those walkways will lead arriving passengers directly to the baggage claim area.
“Nobody wants to be spending a lot of time in the airport once they get here, when they could be out seeing Buffalo,” he said.
None of the improvements are aimed at speeding up the time for departing passengers to get to their outgoing planes, however, which is an issue driven largely by the required security measures in a post 9-11 world.
The lion’s share of the improvements will be paid for through an existing passenger facility charge, a user fee, which is tacked on to the cost of a plane ticket.
The $4.50 charge currently brings in $11 million annually according to Vanecek, and can be used only for airport improvements.