Items tagged with 'Albany International Airport'
How that new connector between the Northway and ALB will work
Major construction on that new connector from the Northway for Albany International Airport is set to begin this winter, the Cuomo admin announced this week. The plan is for the $50 million exit reconfiguration to be finished by spring 2020.
That video embedded above is a Cuomo admin explainer about how the new connector ramps will work. We found it helpful in understanding the reconfiguration.
You might remember ALB is also getting a new parking garage and some makeovers, a $42 million project that's backed by $22 million from the state.
The Albany airport's getting terminal upgrades, a new parking garage, and a new connector road from Exit 4
The Albany International Airport is set to get terminal upgrades and a new parking garage as part of a $42 million renovation -- and there's now a set plan for a new "airport connector" roadway at Exit 4 off the Northway.
The Cuomo admin announced the upgrades and exit reconfiguration Tuesday. Press release blurbage about the planned upgrades for ALB, for which the state is chipping in $22 million and the Albany County Airport Authority is providing the rest:
New Parking Garage -- The project will construct a 1,000-unit, multi-level parking garage, expanding airport parking capacity by 20 percent. The pre-cast concrete garage will provide a heated pedestrian walkway to the airport terminal. Energy-efficient LED lights will illuminate that bridge, enhancing visibility as well as vehicular and pedestrian safety.
Parking Access Improvements -- The project will install new LED electronic signage, car counting devices, and interactive access control devices that utilize advanced GPS technology to locate available parking spaces and provide wayfinding messages that direct motorists to them. The existing parking system is nearly 20 years old and its electronic controls are in disrepair.
Terminal Rehabilitation and Passenger Amenities - The project will rehabilitate the terminal, including escalators, restrooms, waiting rooms and the food court. Improvements will include new carpets, wall finishes, tile floors, energy-efficient lighting fixtures and better Internet connectivity.
(We hope the airport's art gallery and public art get some dollars, too -- they're our favorite part of ALB.)
And here are some bits -- and explainer renderings -- about the new $50 million airport connector roadway and the reconfiguration at exits 4 and 5:
Look where I was (sort of)
Flying out of Albany International Airport? Stop down to our Selfie Spot in the C Concourse and take a Selfie!...
Posted by Albany International Airport on Wednesday, April 29, 2015
If you've been worried that no one has been addressing the Capital Region's critical lack of selfie infrastructure, worry no longer.
After you participated in the ongoing everyday art direction of modern life, be sure to check out the actual art in ALB's gallery (probably our favorite thing about the airport). The current exhibition, Lit, includes works that make use of light in interesting ways.
JetBlue starting service out of ALB in December
JetBlue's service map for ALB, clipped from its website this afternoon.
Announced today: JetBlue will start service out of Albany International Airport on December 10.
The airline will be flying direct routes from ALB to Orlando (MCO) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL). From there it's possible to transfer for a handful of destinations out west and the Caribbean and South America.
When word first got around last year that JetBlue would eventually be flying out of ALB, officials -- specifically Chuck Schumer -- said increased competition from the service would help keep fares down here in Albany. And the Senator reiterated that idea today.
So, what are some of the initial fares? Some ranges we picked up off the airline's website this afternoon:
ALB-MCO: $258-$470
ALB-FLL: $316-$462
Also: JetBlue is offering a one-day-only $16.86 one-way fare deal for Albany on Monday -- we didn't include that.
Update: For some context, we pulled federal airfare data for flights between Albany and a handful of Florida markets -- let's have a look.
Timber!
This was posted on the TSA's Instagram account on Friday.
In addition to the Instagram feed, the TSA also posts this sort of stuff on a blog. A few other strange items the agency says have turned at ALB: an odd notebook found in September that screeners initially thought could be an IED, and in 2013 an inert grenade was snagged.
(Thanks, Laura)
A look at airfare prices out of Albany
How high? It depends on how you measure.
The Albany airport ranked #17 in the nation for highest average domestic roundtrip airfare among the top 100 busiest airports during the fourth quarter of 2013, according to numbers recently released by the federal government. The average fare out of ALB: $434.60. The national average was $381.05.
But, like most numbers, that average airfare figure only tells one part of the story. So let's take off with a few more numbers and see if we can get a better sense of how airfare from Albany compares...
Scheduled for arrival at ALB: JetBlue
Announced today: JetBlue will begin service out of Albany International Airport in 2015. Chuck Schumer has been pushing for the airline to serve ALB, so he was chuffed about the announcement. Said the peripatetic Senator in a press release from his office:
"This should increase competition at the airport, increase the availability of flights to Albany International's most popular destinations, like Florida, and drive down prices for the average flyer. What's more, it will keep more residents in the area flying out of Albany, instead of traveling out-of-state for cheaper flights. It's a win across the board that will reap benefits for Albany International, JetBlue, and the region's tourism industry for years to come."
The two flights planned for the ALB schedule: Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. Here's JetBlue's current service map. Its slate of upstate-ish cities currently includes Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Newburgh, Westchester, and Burlington.
When word started spreading about JetBlue's impending arrival this morning, we noticed a bunch of people in our Twitter stream hailing the news. To which we ask, earnestly: Why?
We're kind of the thinking that most airline travel is pretty much like any other airline travel these days. Sure, there's some variation -- the Southwest people might be a bit funnier and that airline doesn't charge you for checking a bag. But on price, and many other aspects, there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference. So, aside from the increase in competition, what's the big deal? If you've flown JetBlue, please share. We're genuinely curious about what separates this airline from the others.
Elsewhere: A ranking of nine major carriers by the WSJ released in January pegged JetBlue at #5.
photo: Aaron Gustafson (cc) via Wikipedia
The airport, photographs, and free speech
Updated
You probably saw the video this week from ALB -- two people recording their effort to hand out flyers about opting out of the full body scan, an airport official asks them to stop, they say no, and an Albany County sheriff's deputy tells the airport official the two people are exercising their rights. The video has racked up more than 100,000 views on YouTube.
The airport released a statement saying its "concern -- as it always is -- was for the safety of the passengers and the public who were in the airport." [TU]
So, what exactly are a person's rights in this sort of situation?
Well, like most things, it's complicated.
From the clouds, Air Force One
The gray, rainy weather made it hard to spot Air Force One as it approached ALB today. But YouTube user MusicalDarkHorse caught video of it just before it landed.
Yep, it's a large airplane.
There's another AF1 clip after the jump.
LOL at ALB
Perhaps not ROFLMAO, but definitely smile inducing.
No, the Joe Bruno bust isn't at Albany International right now. But there's other stuff to see -- and funnier.
If you're heading out of town, or delivering/picking someone up to/from ALB over the holidays, take a few minutes to stop up at the 3rd floor gallery to check out the LOL exhibit.
You might even want to just take a trip out to see it -- even if you're not going anywhere -- just for giggles.
Where'd Joe go?
It seems like something's missing...
Last week Bob over at Planet Albany noticed that the Joe Bruno bust that has watched over the observation area at the Albany International Airport was no longer on display.
Considering all the drama (if that's the word) surrounding Bruno over the last few years, the absence of the bust honoring him might make you wonder why it was missing.
So we asked.
Getting there, directly
Its direct flight to Atlanta may be "direct" -- not direct.
After seeing this week that Southwest is adding a direct flight from ALB to Atlanta, we were curious about how many places we (or you or anyone) could fly directly from the Albany International Airport -- and how much it costs (versus a non-direct flight). [Southwest] [TU]
We're now boarding with the answer...
ALB screener says she was fired for being a witch (and a whistleblower)
From the couldn't-make-this-up file: msnbc.com reports that a woman who was fired from a job as a TSA screener at ALB in 2009 says she was given the boot, in part, because she's a witch:
She was in the top 10 percent in Albany at catching weapons on the X-ray machine. She passed her skills test on the first try. She caught a woman on her way to Vietnam with $30,000 in cash. And she didn't mind working with the passengers -- her training as a massage therapist kept her from being squeamish, as some officers were, about patting down elderly and special-needs passengers.
The assistant director told her he was investigating a threat of workplace violence. He said that her former mentor in on-the-job training, officer Mary Bagnoli, reported that she was afraid of Smith because she was a witch who practiced witchcraft. She accused Smith of following her on the highway one snowy evening after work and casting a spell on the heater of her car, causing it not to work. Well, actually, Bagnoli said she hadn't seen Smith's car, but she had seen Smith. "I thought to myself," Smith recalls, "what, did she see me flying on my broom?"
The woman says she does practice Wicca (and is reclaiming the word "witch").
As you might expect, there's more to the story -- including whistleblowing about alleged security problems, what sounds like less than-great management, and... uh... two black cats.
Farewell, Latham checkerboard water towers
They have a checkered past. And present. But no future.
Update: Colonie says the dismantling has been postponed until there's warmer weather. [Troy Record]
____
If you're driving through Latham this week, tip your cap to the checkerboard towers.
Demolition of Latham's landmark water towers is scheduled to start today.
The FAA has said the towers have to be removed because they're on the flight path of a runway at the Albany International Airport.
Warm weather bang for your airfare buck
To warmer climes?
The arrival of actual winter weather this week had us thinking about warmer places -- specifically, about places that are warm in February. Because it's right about that time of the year that we usually become officially sick of winter.
With that in mind, we curiously scanned Southwest's winter fare sale this week for ALB-to-(insert other place) specials. There were a lot of warm-weather options -- but which was the best non-winter value?
So, we did some quick math to determine which spots would get us the most degrees for our airfare dollar.
From here to... someplace else
That one at the bottom is Puerto Rico.
Check it out: the travel website Kayak has an "explore" option. You tell it where you're at, how much you'd like to spend, the season you want to go -- and it tells you where you can fly.
Here's the result for flights from ALB this summer under $400. (That's the screengrab above.) You can also sort by activity, language and weather (we're filing this away for January).
There's something about seeing all the spots mapped out like that gives us a bit of wanderlust...
[via Kottke]
Earlier on AOA: Daydreaming of a long weekend
Plane spotting at ALB
Check it out: a site called NYC Aviation has put together a plane spotting guide for ALB...
View NYCAviation.com Albany International Airport ALB Plane Spotting Guide in a larger map
Here's a lot more detail and explanation -- including notes, pics and photo advice.
Earlier on AOA:
+ Air Force One landing at ALB
+ Watching the planes at ALB
@flyfromALB
We've been following @flyfromALB on Twitter and it's kind of interesting. It's a feed of flight "deals" as detected by Fare Compare.
A few of the recent updates:
$196r/t Raleigh-Durham from Albany down 12%, [http://bit.ly/4HFQ1U]
$385r/t Mexico City from Albany, winter or spring down 29% [http://bit.ly/8DfHFW]
$675r/t Honolulu from Albany down 16%, [http://bit.ly/4tOrIb]
$937r/t Bangkok from Albany, winter or spring down 11% [http://bit.ly/8lJJP2]
After just a quick scan, the deals seem to match up fairly well with results from Kayak.
[via @alexisgrant]
Refusing the puffer
Writing at a blog called Homeland Security Watch, Deirdre Walker -- a retired police officer from Maryland -- describes what happens when she refused the "the puffer" at ALB's security checkpoint earlier this year:
When notified by the cheerful screener that I had been selected for additional screening (the screener's tone reminded my of the announcer who tells the contestant that she has just won a TV on the Price is Right), I stepped reluctantly toward the machine and asked her quietly whether I had the right to refuse the search. I did not want to become a spectacle, or have to rent a car and drive back to Maryland.
The screeners face dropped and she appeared stunned, as if my question had been received like a body-blow. She asked me to repeat what I said, and I repeated my inquiry regarding whether or not I had the right to refuse this search, especially since it was my understanding that the equipment did not work. She responded defensively, "It sounds an alarm!"
[via @ToddHeim]
On time, most of the time
A few interesting local bits from a Brookings Institution report out this week about air travel delays:
Arrivals
ALB was on pace for about 1.3 million arriving passengers this year. That's down more than 5 percent from last year and almost 6 percent from five years ago. But it's up 42 percent from 10 years ago.
On time
Arrivals at ALB were on pace this year to be on time 78.5 percent of the time. That ranks #54 among the top 100 metros. And it was just about even with the national average (78.9 percent)
Delays
The average time of delay for a late arrival was on track to be 54.2 minutes this year -- that ranks 37th best among the top 100 metros.
Brookings also figured out the top 10 air corridors linking to the Capital Region. That list is after the jump...
Air Force One landing at ALB
Wave to the President!
Pete Casellini snapped this pic this morning as Air Force One landed at Albany International Airport.
(Many thanks, Pete!)
Update: Check out more photos of Air Force One by Paul and Amy...
Out of This World at ALB
"Seven Columns of Commerce and Pleasure" by Chris Harvey
One of our favorites things about the Albany International Airport is the upstairs art gallery. We appreciate the fact that a place that's all about hustle and bustle has a space that's dedicated to pausing and thinking.
If you have some time during your next swing through ALB, the current exhibit is worth checking out.
Southwest 30-60-90 sale
Up, up and away -- for cheap.
Southwest announced what looks like a pretty good fare special today: every city is on sale for the next 48 hours. One-way fares are $30, $60 or $90.
Of course, there are a handful of restrictions. You have to travel between September 9 and November 18. The sale doesn't include Friday and Sunday flights. And you have to pay fees and taxes on top of the fare.
We were curious about what kind of deals we could get out of ALB. A list -- with a few comparison prices -- is posted after the jump.
That was a lot of rain, state Senate will meet on 4th, RPI disputes fire department accusations, Rudy Giuliani wants to motivate you, ALB says show up earlier
Yesterday's severe thunderstorms dropped more than three inches of rain in some places (the official NWS tally of 2.76 inches was a local record for July 1). Latham and Cohoes seemed to get the worst of it. There were reports of flooding all over the area. [TU] [NWS] [Fox23] [Twitter]
The state Senate held another of its "extraordinary" in-and-out sessions yesterday. The big issue of the day seemed to be the question of whether the Assembly would accept the bills "passed" by the Senate in Tuesday's V8-fueled session. It looks like the senators will be spending the Fourth of July at the Capitol -- David Paterson has ordered them into session every day through Monday. [TU] [Daily Politics]
Both Senate factions are expected to turn in per diem requests for the last two weeks today -- though whether they'll be paid is apparently up in the air. [NYDN]
Guilderland's supervisor says the town will be pulling its garbage business from the Albany landfill because of concerns about the facility's expansion into the Pine Bush. [TU]
RPI says that its public safety office called the Troy Fire Department just 32 seconds after the first report of a fire at one its chem labs this week -- not 12 minutes as the department has alleged. The TFD says RPI's delay created a more dangerous situation for firefighters. [Troy Record]
Cities line up infrastructure projects, Schenectady cop suspected of catching Zzzz instead of crooks, Saratoga rec center project moves forward, delivery driver plows into strip mall
Local leaders say much of the federal stimulus money headed this way will be spent on infrastructure projects. Troy mayor Harry Tutunjian noted that much of the infrastructure in his city is 120-years-old. [Troy Record] [Saratogian] [TU]
The Daily Gazette reports that Schenectady's highest-paid police officer has been spending a chunk of each Tuesday's shift inside an apartment, possibly sleeping. The Gazette's observation was confirmed by department records from the GPS unit in the cop's car. Said Schenectady's police chief: "How dumb can you be? You know you have a GPS in your car. Why would anybody do that?" The officer in question made $168,921 last year -- that's about triple his base salary -- because of enormous amounts of overtime. [Daily Gazette] [TU]
An Albany police sergeant has been suspended pending the investigation into the possibly delayed arrest of an APD detective who allegedly had been driving while intoxicated. [TU]
The plane that crashed last week in Buffalo had been in Albany the day before. A witness says he saw a crew performing an engine test on the plane as it sat at the gate at ALB. [TU]
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?