Buffalo Niagra International Airport

BUFFALO NI AGARA INTERNAT IONAL A I RPORT through the middle of the plane, if you will, then goes into the concourse to the east or to the west. Those who are exiting come right back through the same area, so it’s very crowded. We like to describe it as salmon swimming upstream. So we’re going to be adding two exiting concourses, on the east and west sides, both of which will take people through on the outsides of the building, which is all covered, and bring them directly back into a large meet-and-greet leading down into baggage claim.” “Our current baggage claim area has three flat plate machines that were put in place in 1997,” adds Vanecek. “It just isn’t enough to adequately serve the needs of our passengers. We’re in the process of expanding; we’re renovating about 19,000 square feet. We’re getting rid of the flat plate machines, which are a security and capacity concern, and bringing in four slope plate machines, which will, from a volume standpoint, effectively double our baggage claim capacity.” There are two sides to the development coin and valid concerns as to the impact of the Airport’s ongoing expansion—how it affects neighboring natural and human environments—have also been raised. To that end, Buffalo has been modifying its operations and plans to make it a more sustainable entity, using much less energy and resources than is typical for an airport of its size. It already uses an innovative approach to treat the glycol runoff in its stormwater. “Glycol is what’s sprayed on the aircraft to de-ice planes before they take off in inclement weather,” explains Vanecek. “Traditionally, airports keep the glycol in these huge retention ponds. They spend a lot of time sending it through sanitary systems with the municipality. What we’ve done is to install an aerated wetland where we run all our glycol runoff. It’s a great technology - very environmentally friendly. And it’s a huge cost saving for us as well.” Buffalo Airport’s glycol system is the nation’s first airport subsurface- engineered wetland facility. It is currently treating airfield de-icing fluid runoff and improving regional water quality.