Syracuse airport installs faster exit portals in $1.5 million project

SYRACUSE — Syracuse Hancock International Airport recently unveiled the first part of a project that installed new high-tech exit portals in terminal B that should make it faster for passengers to leave the terminal.

“What you see here is the first phase of it. Right now, the other side of the airport, the other exit is being worked on. That will be completed before the Thanksgiving rush,” Jason Terreri, executive director of the Syracuse airport, noted in remarks during an Oct. 23 formal-opening ceremony. 

The project cost about 

$1.5 million, Terreri added.

Hancock purchased the exit lanes from Monroe, North Carolina–based Record-USA.

RJ Ortlieb Construction Co. served as the general contractor on the project, the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority (SRAA) tells CNYBJ. Patricia Electric Inc. of Syracuse was the electrical contractor. 

Then, under the contract, Record USA handled its own installation and commissioning of the system, the SRAA said.

As for the purpose of the exit portals, the Syracuse airport addresses that question on its website in a section with “frequently asked questions” about exit portals. 

“The exit portals allow passengers to exit the airport concourse safely and expeditiously, while preventing unauthorized individuals from entering the secure area of the airport. They also eliminate the need for law enforcement or other security personnel to monitor the exit lanes,” per the airport.

In the past, passengers had complained to airport officials that the prior exit tubes were too slow and they saw it as something the facility would have to fix.

“So, we had been planning on doing an exit-portal program replacement and then the pandemic hit, which dramatically reduced all of our traffic here at the airport and put a stop to most of … our projects,” Terreri said.

The airport had to fix its exit-lane technology “for a couple reasons,” the airport director noted. The facility needed to provide a “more efficient and a safe” option for people traveling out of the airport. And officials at the Syracuse airport wanted to make sure they provide the “best customer experience for everybody.” 

In April, the federal government awarded Syracuse Hancock International Airport a $13 million grant through the CARES Act. 

“[Without that], this project would not have been possible as well as just the normal continued day-to-day operations as our numbers have been down,” Terreri said. 

Even as the pandemic continues, passenger traffic “is returning” to the Syracuse airport, he said. Each month, the facility is adding new flights and more capacity back into the market and the airport is “ready to welcome passengers back in.” 

In 2019, the Syracuse airport had about 2.5 million passengers come through the facility, Terreri said. “That’s a three-decade record,” he noted. 

The new exit portals have increased capacity at the airport, so as the traveling public returns and “we exceed the 2019 levels that we had, we will not have any delays of passengers coming out of the airport,” Terreri contended.

The new portals use sensors that detect passengers and open the doors automatically to allow them to exit the terminal. An alarm will sound if anyone tries to enter from the unsecured part of the airport or stops and turns around during the exit process. 

The exit portals have “often been a conversation piece,” Jo Anne Gagliano, chair of the SRAA board of directors, said in her remarks. 

“Now, we have a way to be secure and also provide convenience for people to move through” the airport more freely and efficiently, she said. “We are extremely appreciative … of the CARES Act that allowed this project to take place as it was planned this year,” Gagliano added.