Syracuse, New York — Syracuse Hancock Airport, is receiving 20 Million Dollars from the New York State Government to make improvements to its security and expand its northern terminal.
The expansion, part of a 230 Million effort to improve Upstate New York airports, will help Syracuse keep its status as an international airport by improving its Federal Inspection Station (FIS) and Customs and Border Protection.
Jason Terreri, the Executive Director of the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority says the expansion will provide a lot for the airport.
“So that expansion is going to do two things for us first off from a capacity standpoint were adding two new jet bridges as well as an additional gate area as well as some new concession offering for the airports. The second thing its going to do for us is give that passenger a much better experience. So there’s going to be new signage lighting in the terminal there going to be a big window so is going to just further enhance and increase the customer experience here at the airport,” Terreri said.
Kenneth Fox, a passenger at Syracuse Hancock airport agreed that the improvement was good.
“ I mean improvement is necessary, sometimes the just options are pretty limited here,” Fox said.
Syracuse Hancock Airport has seen a rapid increase in travel this past year. The arrivals of airlines Southwest and soon Breeze Airways have increased the amount of destinations and flights in the airport. Travel increased so much that the Airport had to build additional parking to accommodate the amount of passengers.
“We have more and more people coming through our airport,” Terrari said. “and the places they are coming from are further than just Syracuse were actually drawing from all up and down the I-81 corridor as well as I-90 corridor.”
Terreri said they plan on the expansion being done in two years.