The happ(ier) traveler

By Cindy Landrum  

JANUARY 5, 2012 2:04 p.m. (0)

Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport will celebrate its golden anniversary this year with a $102 million terminal renovation project designed to make travel easier and more efficient for passengers.

“The airport has proven over the test of time that it was the right idea at the right time,” said Rosylin Weston, airport spokeswoman. “The terminal renovation is the right idea at the right time.”

It was the idea of the late textile magnate Roger Milliken and Greenville builder Charlie Daniel to transform farmland outside of Greer into a single airport serving both Greenville and Spartanburg.

When the airport opened on Oct. 15, 1962, it was the first non-military airport to have a runway center line lighting system. It also featured a fountain garden on the runway-side of the terminal, the only one of its type in the nation and a place where generations of Upstate children have played while watching planes land and take off.

The footprint of the 220,000-square-foot terminal will be used in the renovation, which is scheduled to begin in late 2012 although some preliminary “enabling” work may occur before then, Weston said.

The garden on the runway side of the terminal will stay, although it will be accessible only to ticketed passengers who have gone through the airport’s security screening.

The fountain will remain and no major renovations are planned for the garden.

But the terminal itself will undergo major changes.

Glass walls will replace concrete on the front of the terminal building and allow in natural light, reducing the airport’s need to use artificial light.

“Passengers can enjoy the outside while inside,” Weston said.

Canopies over the driveway in front will keep passengers dry during rainstorms.

A reconfigured ticketing lobby will have more room and ease congestion during peak travel times.

One single security screening area will replace the separate checkpoints for the airport’s two concourses.

“I think everybody has experienced times when one of the screening areas was backed up while the other screening area was not busy at all. But passengers couldn’t use the other screening area unless they were flying an airline using that concourse,” Weston said. “A centralized screening area is more efficient.”

And, after passing through security in the terminal’s upper level, passengers will have expanded concession and gift shop choices.

“The terminal is 50 years old and many of the inner workings and parts of the terminal have 50-year-old technology,” Weston said. “The renovation is designed to ensure GSP is able to meet the travel needs of the Upstate.”

And Upstate residents are traveling a lot.

GSP had 401,352 passengers from January 2011 through June 30, 2011, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. GSP had 636,989 passengers for all of 2010, according to the agency.

And the numbers continue to increase.

In July 2011, GSP had 170,020 passengers come through its gates, an all-time record for the airport.

In August, more than 157,200 passengers traveled to and from GSP, the airport’s busiest August of all time. That beat the airport’s previous best August – 2005 – by more than 4,300 passengers.

GSP had 888,647 passengers in 2005, according to the BTS.

Airport officials credit the increases to the arrival of Southwest Airlines, a low-cost carrier that began service at GSP in March. The airline opened more markets to Upstate travelers and brought airfares that had many of them traveling from Atlanta and Charlotte down.

GSP had the largest airfare decrease of any airport in the country from the second quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of 2011. The average fare at GSP in the second quarter of 2011 was $376.97, down 14.3 percent from 2010’s average fare of $439.74.

The average U.S. second quarter airfare increased from $340.72 in 2010 to $369.67 this year.

Airport officials say GSP’s traffic should get back to its peak – 900,000 passengers in 1995 – by 2013. Passenger traffic is expected to reach 1.5 million by 2027.

In addition to making the airport more passenger-friendly, the renovation is important as an economic development tool for the Upstate, Weston said.

“It’s important for us to have an airport that functionally meets the ever changing needs of the public as well as serves as a tool for the continued economic growth and development of the region,” she said.

The renovation, which will be done in phases to allow the terminal to remain open throughout the project, is expected to take 24 to 36 months to complete.

GSP will not have to issue bonds or get loans to complete the renovation. Some of the money for the project will come from a federal program that provides funding to airports to help improve safety and efficiency.