Airport update
Here's an upate on progress at Will Roger's World Airport. I find a some problems with this article, but at the same time there are some good things mentioned. Towwards the end of the article, it appears to me that Karen Carney really doesn't care to have Will Rogers be a hub. Seems like she' more focused on pointing out the benefits of not being one. With that attitude, we'll never attract any type of hub, not even a minihub!
Also, it still bugs me that the airport trust isn't going to start Phase III (the east concourse) until they feel its needed. Well, you know the airport trust and Luther Trent...if this is the case, Phase III may never be completed!
But, I think it is good that the airport trust is looking into trying to attract more low cost carriers to the market. That's a sign of progress!
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"Working through airport construction
by Heidi R. Centrella
The Journal Record
8/23/2004
Those able to maneuver around Will Rogers World Airport in the most efficient manner these days would have to be members of the maintenance crew via one of five available Segway Human Transporters on site.
For employees and travelers, however, the maze of plastic drop cloths, duct tape and roped-off areas with signs pointing the new way to baggage claim, ticket counters and gates has proven quite frustrating. And as for picking up or dropping off passengers at the travel plaza, well, that's a story in and of itself.
But the airport's $110 million expansion project, with its projected completion date of December 2005, is moving along and showing promise for the peeved.
Phase I of the project began in 2000 with infrastructure projects and parking lot improvements to prepare for the more labor-intensive airport overhaul of Phase II, for which construction began in 2002.
And despite Oklahoma's prolonged rainy season, which delayed certain aspects of the job such as pouring concrete, everything is on schedule and going according to plan with milestones on the horizon.
The existing building, built in 1967, will expand in five directions, and already has shown improvement with the new "West Con course," which officials used for lack of a better name. It houses gates for all but two of the 16-plus airlines flying in and out of Will Rogers World Airport.
According to airport spokeswoman Karen Carney, the primary challenge for architects from The Benham Cos., who partnered with Gensler out of Denver and Los Angeles during the design phase, was to provide more openness, more space and more light, all the while maintaining a native, yet contemporary, look. This was accomplished with the 551-panes-of-glass-meets-fieldstone-wall that runs the front length of the facility. Com bined, the length of the window wall on the front of the building is 575 feet, or about 18,516 square feet, of glass.
"We wanted some kind of identity with the state of Oklahoma, something that would make this airport unique so that it doesn't look exactly like every other airport in the country," Carney said. "The stone is native to the region and the earth tone colors were chosen by the architects to incorporate some local feeling and color into the design."
In September, the upper level for departure traffic will open with the entrance extended another 30 feet toward the roadway, a large canopy and raised roadways. This, Carney said, is not only a milestone, but it will be good for skycaps and travelers alike, who have had to maneuver around the construction so far from the ticket counters.
In October, the lower level - baggage claim - should be completed with the entrance extended another 60 feet. And in the next week or two, a second new baggage claim belt will open on the west side of the lower level. In January, three new gates will open for Southwest Airlines.
"One of the main challenges we've faced is remaining fully operational while construction continues," Carney said.
The general contractor, Boldt Construction, has hired 22 subcontractors, totaling an estimated work force of 170 on site. And, to date, Dane Electric has installed 1.2 million feet, about 230 miles, of wire throughout the facility.
Other new features at the airport will include a Big 12 and CNBC retail shop, Sonic, Schlotzsky's and Sbarros. And a large hotel-like lounge surrounded with the large panes of glass overlooking fields to the south will provide passengers a not-so-airport-bar feel as they await their departure.
Will Rogers served more than 3.4 million passengers in 2003, a number that has yet to reach pre-9/11 levels, but is fast catching up. According to Carney, before 9/11 the airport saw roughly 3.5 million passengers.
For the first seven months this year, the airport reported 983,493 enplanements, up from 942,624 for the first seven months of 2003.
Despite these lows that gradually have been increasing, Carney said the airport didn't feel near the hit others did after the 9/11 tragedy in New York City. Not being a hub, Will Rogers had an advantage.
"Therefore if we would lose one airline, it's not like we would lose everything in the airport," she said, citing as an example US Airways' decision to shut down its Pittsburg hub, which will have a tremendous impact on that airport with the number of employees. "While it would not be ideal, we would certainly hate to lose any of our carriers, it wouldn't devastate us."
But the ever-evolving airline industry that has landed itself in turmoil affects all airports, as well as air travel for passengers.
"I think the (major) airlines are looking at the successful low-fare carriers and working at evaluating and improving their service," Carney said. "And we have to work together with the airlines to make the flying experience more positive for passengers so that people want to fly."
Carney said there are more low-fare carriers not yet serving this market that airport officials would like to lure here. And an announcement is expected to be made in the near future of one such carrier entering the Sooner State.
Phase III, or an "East Concourse," will begin as airport officials see need for further expansion."
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