Buffalo Niagara International Airport

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For an airport with a similar name, see Niagara Falls International Airport.
Buffalo Niagara International Airport
IATA: BUF – ICAO: KBUF – FAA: BUF
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority
Serves Erie County
Location Cheektowaga
Elevation AMSL 728 ft / 222 m
Coordinates 42°56′26″N 078°43′56″W / 42.94056, -78.73222
Website www.buffaloairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
5/23 8,827 2,690 Asphalt
14/32 7,161 2,183 Asphalt
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations 137,518
Based aircraft 37
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]
FAA diagram of Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF)
FAA diagram of Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF)

Buffalo Niagara International Airport (IATA: BUF, ICAO: KBUF, FAA LID: BUF) is an airport located in the town of Cheektowaga in Erie County, New York. The airport is named after the Buffalo Niagara Falls Metro Region. The airport serves Buffalo, New York as well as Southwest Ontario Canada (Private land shuttle services make connections between Buffalo with Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario and John C. Munro International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario). It is the busiest airport in Upstate New York, and the third busiest in New York State by number of boardings.

Contents

[edit] History

The Buffalo Municipal Airport (as it was then called) was built in 1926. However, the airport, which officially opened on May 11, 1939, was quickly outgrown, due to larger planes coming on the scene. A 1955 expansion helped remedy this problem. In 1959, after being acquired by the Niagara Frontier Port Authority, the name was changed to the Greater Buffalo International Airport. Another renovation in 1961 extensively remodeled the main terminal building and built a new control tower, as well as adding another concourse for American Airlines. Despite all this, the terminal again became outgrown. To address this problem, a second terminal (called the "West Terminal") was constructed in 1971, which was built to last only ten years. The original terminal, now called the "East Terminal", was heavily expanded between 1975 and 1977. However, no matter how many renovations or expansions the buildings went through, the buildings hadn't aged well. The West terminal, designed as a temporary structure, was nearly 20 years old. Plans began for a new airport in 1991 after it was found that it was no longer economical to keep renovating and expanding the aging terminals. Construction of the new building designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox began in 1995 in between the two existing buildings. While the new building was being constructed, the existing terminals remained open. The brand new airport (now renamed The Buffalo-Niagara International Airport) opened on November 3, 1997. It had 14 gates. The old terminals were demolished almost immediately in order to allow any necessary expansion. The new building received an expansion in 1999, increasing the number of gates to 26. In 2006, the main runway was repaved and extended 750 feet, its first major upgrade since 1980. The secondary runway was extended 1,000 feet as well. In 2004, Buffalo/Niagara Int'l Airport hosted Air Force One. AFO was the first 747 to land in Buffalo. Southwest Airlines recently surpassed US Airways to become the largest carrier at BUF in terms of number of passengers. US Airways was bumped to second and jetBlue Airways ranked third.

[edit] Low Fare Service

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Upstate New York (specifically the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany and airports) used to be ranked high among the most expensive airports to fly out of in the country. "For way too long, Upstate air travelers have been at the mercy of the major carriers," said Senator Charles Schumer.[2] Schumer is credited for jump starting the upstate New York economy with low fare airlines. He is also credited with bringing jetBlue Airways to New York and helping jetBlue obtain slots at JFK. jetBlue's began sevice between Buffalo and JFK six days after their inagural flight (JFK-FLL). Thanks to Schumer's efforts, jetBlue Airways started service to Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester, Southwest Airlines has come to Buffalo and Albany and Airtran Airways started service to Buffalo and Rochester. Due to this "Southwest Effect," Buffalo Niagara International Airport exceeded the 5,000,000 passenger mark for 2006. Previous estimates by the NFTA had projected 3.8 million passengers for 2006 and that it would be until 2020 before the 5 million plateau would be reached.[3] BUF has more than double the traffic of any other upstate New York airport.

[edit] Canadian Travelers

Buffalo/Niagara International Airport currently handles many Canadian travelers utilizing the airport for domestic travel within the United States. Reasons for this include the high operating costs, high government imposed taxes and surcharges, and thus higher fares at Canadian airports, not to mention ease of passing through Customs and Immigration at a land crossing rather than at an airport. There are many shuttles to and to/from the airport to cities throughout Ontario.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Facilities

US Airways operates a US Airways Club near Gate 6.

[edit] References

  1. ^ FAA Airport Master Record for BUF (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  2. ^ Schumer Outlines Measures to Expand Upstate Air Service and Increase Competition
  3. ^ BNIA passenger count tops 5M

[edit] External links


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