“Most of the steel is up,” Bill Hopper, the airport’s director of aviation, tells BJNN. “By the end of the month we expect to have all of the steel up.”
The work is expected to be finished by the end of October, he says. Some new sections will come online sooner. The new baggage area, screening section, and boarding areas could be in use as soon as August.
Hopper says the revitalized airport will offer a different travel experience. Courtyards will allow travelers to step outside after they have passed through security.
An artist’s rendering of the new airport highlights curved glass and the airiness of the new design.
The revitalization comes as the airport is about to add flights to Newark on United Airlines.
In April, United will join Delta and Allegiant Air, which already have operations at the airport. Delta provides service to Detroit and Allegiant flies to two airports in Florida.
Hopper says United’s scheduled flights to Newark create many options for travelers in the Southern Tier. He notes that Delta’s Detroit flight offers passengers one-stop access to follow-on flights to 100 cities around much of the U.S.
The addition of United’s flight to Newark will create 125 one-stop options for travelers, including international destinations and the Southwest U.S.
He says “the addition of United fills in a lot of holes” in the airport’s service.
Travel at the Elmira Corning Regional Airport was down slightly in 2017 compared to 2016. Hopper says the facility saw 138,000 enplanements in 2016 and 126,000 in 2017. He traces that 12,000 passenger decline to the decision by American Airlines to leave the market in February of last year.
However, he says it appears that many travelers continued to use the Southern Tier airport, switching to Delta.
Contact McChesney at cmcchesney@cnybj.com
Artist’s rendering courtesy of Elmira Corning Regional Airport