THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 12, 1996 TAG: 9602090001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Norfolk airport commission recently disclosed a new master plan to bring the airport into the 21st century. The millennium is but a hop and a skip away, so the airport's overseers necessarily look head - in this instance, 35 years ahead.
At first blush, the need for increased capacity isn't obvious. There was a dramatic drop in passenger traffic through Norfolk International Airport in 1995, but that was from an abnormal high in 1994, as staff writer Christopher Dinsmore explained in his reports Saturday.
Fare wars in 1994 caused passenger volume to jump to 3.4 million from 2.6 million in 1993. A similar fluctuation occurred during the period when the short-lived People's Airline, with its low fares, flew in and out of Norfolk.
Norfolk International officials expect little passenger growth in 1996. But projected growth in Hampton Roads' population (currently, 1.6 million) portends swelling passenger volume in the 21st century.
The proposed plan projects significant improvements to the airport: among them, an arrivals building, a third passenger concourse, a runway parallel to the 9,000-foot-long main runway, additional curbside parking and new cargo and general-aviation facilities.
An arrivals building leads the list. Four scheduled passenger airlines used the airport when the existing terminal was completed in the early 1970s. Nine airlines fly in and out of the airport today. Nine airlines' ticket-handling facilities are cheek-by-jowl on the terminal's departures side. Passengers claim baggage at four carousels on the arrivals side. Overcrowding and delays - which frustrate and anger - are common. They leave travelers with unpleasant memories.
That's not good. An arrivals building would cure the problem. It would speed arriving passengers to waiting transportation. Both sides of the present terminal would be dedicated to ticketing.
A $3 landing fee, likely to fetch about $3.5 million annually, would finance key improvements. Authorized by Congress in 1990, the fee is paid by airport users, not taxpayers generally - but a tax it is.
Norfolk International has been around for half a century. It commands slightly more acreage than Washington National Airport. It's busy. That's because, like much-busier Washington National, it's handy; most of Hampton Roads' population lives within a 30-minute drive of it.
Also like Washington National, Norfolk International seems destined to be around indefinitely. Good thing, too - for the military, private industry, travelers. The planned capital improvements will make the airport better. That will be salutary for air travelers and air cargo - and all Hampton Roads. by CNB