SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) marked its 75-year anniversary with the annual State of the Airport event on Friday morning.
More than 200 people attended the gathering at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown, the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority (SRAA) said in its Friday announcement.
The event also marked the release of the SRAA’s 2024 Annual Report to the Community. A digital version of the 2024 annual report is available here.
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“We greatly appreciate all the elected and appointed officials, members of the business community, and community leaders who joined us for our State of the Airport event this morning,” Jason Terreri, executive director of SRAA, said in the announcement. “We recognize the critical role that SYR plays in our community and we look forward to continuing our collaborative approach to develop the airport and meet the growing needs of our community.”
On Jan. 14, SYR announced that more than 3 million passengers passed through the facility in 2024, making it the busiest calendar year ever in the airport’s 75 years of operation.
The small hub international airport welcomed 3,004,747 travelers in 2024, up 5 percent from 2,856,038 in 2023, SRAA announced that day.
During the Friday morning event, Terreri spoke at length about the successes of 2024, the challenges lying ahead for the airport and the region, and the SRAA’s vision for “tackling those challenges while concurrently elevating the passenger experience at the airport.”
Plans for 2025 include a new, 24-hour parking shuttle service for those parking a “greater distance from the airport terminal,” per the annual report.
Bill Swelbar, chief industry analyst at the Swelbar-Zhong Consultancy, was the State of the Airport event’s guest speaker. The Swelbar-Zhong Consultancy is a commercial aviation economic analysis and research firm, per its website.
In his remarks, Swelbar provided a broader, aviation-wide perspective, helping attendees understand the current state of the airline sector and the role that SYR plays in the larger aviation landscape, the SRAA said.