CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — It's been a very busy summer season at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport with plenty of activity and sometimes various events that affected flight schedules. 2 On Your Side checked in earlier Tuesday to check out updates including the airport construction work.
The runway reconstruction project which cost a total of $36 million from federal sources was quite an undertaking for Buffalo Niagara International Airport and the NFTA. But unlike the experience of a lot of fliers this past summer with cancellations and delays we can tell you that this project is coming in right on its arrival schedule.
Actually, we're told the construction work on the 523 Main runway should be done for this year in the next two to three weeks. NFTA Spokesperson Kelly Khatib says "We understand the questions and concerns and that this is the time people are traveling. So we wanted to again make as minimal disruption to our passengers as possible and we're very happy with how everything has kinda wrapped up and how it's wrapped up on time."
That may be good news for some people who complained about more noise with planes taking off and landing because of an adjustment in the flight patterns. That happened with the use of the backup runway.
Some of the work with the removal and replacement of half of the 8,880-foot runway's concrete base and asphalt surface was actually set up to coincide with airport operations. Khatib points out "We had work that was going on not only at night, but we had some that was overnight so that we made sure that there were absolutely no flights that were ever coming in or out at that time."
There was also work on the airport's taxiway for planes that were preparing for take-off or after landing as well as runway lighting and even tunnels under the runways.
This took place in the midst of a rather unusual post-COVID travel season. Khatib says "There were so many different things that happened this summer. We had weather incidents. We had power incidents. We also had you know - pilot shortages - things like that. So it did have an effect on us but again as the season has started slowing down we're seeing that things are running smoother."
This is actually a two-phase reconstruction project. Contractors for the NFTA will not do any further work next summer. But in the summer of 2025, they will return to do the other half of runway 523 which is the main runway at the airport.