Buffalo is WAY bigger than Rochester!

[just_sayin']

Originally Posted by donbuy

I guess since I am relatively new to the area I am not very tuned in to the big brother, little brother competition of some of the natives. To me they are both terrific places with each being better for having the other nearby. I do not see the fact that Buffalo is obvioulsy bigger as a denigration of Rochester. Bigger is not always better - ask any fat guy

I agree completely and think the two of them, together with Syracuse, would be much better off for working together as a cohort than they would arguing over who is bigger/better and whatever else.

[Wolfpacker]

Originally Posted by donbuy

The fact that Buffalo is materially larger is true but that does not in any way denigrate Rochester. I am fairly new to WNY and am glad to have the benefits of both cities nearby as well as Southern Ontario. One large region with over 10 million people in a 180 mile stretch of Land, pretty awesome in my view.

Hopefully you're enjoying the stay. The one thing I love, and I think it can get overlooked at times, is the geographical positioning of the Buffalo-Niagara area.

You have NYC, Boston-New England, Philly, Pittsburgh, Baltimore-DC, Cleveland, and the Midwest cities like Chicago, Indy, Detroit, and such just a short hop away by air, or a half-a-days drive (depending on a variety of factors), then you can hop on your car and head over to border, and within a 1 1/2-to-2 hours be in a evolving, vibrant metro area like Toronto, (Or just head up to Niagara Falls and Niagara-On-The-Lake).

[Wolfpacker]

Originally Posted by North_Coast

There have been discussions regarding that plan over the years. A large number of travelers from the Rochester metro also factor into the Buffalo Airport's traffic, but it much would be less convenient for the Canadians to use an airport located further East between Rochester and Buffalo.

It would make more sense to build a Finger Lakes Regional Airport to the south and east of Rochester. It has been discussed in the past, and I wouldn't mind driving a little further than the 18 miles I currently drive (from NW Rochester metro) if it would benefit the economy of the Finger Lakes region overall, as long as there were good expressway access from both cities to the new airport - or better - high speed public transport from both cities.

We need more direct flights out of Rochester, and a Finger Lakes Regional airport would help that. Frequent business travelers in Rochester and Syracuse drive rather than fly to cities like Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia etc., due the lack of cost-effective direct flights. Routing to Midwest cities like Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis etc. is too expensive, but those destinations are too far to drive, so a lot of Rochesterians use BUF for the midwest, or like me, just pay the high fares out of ROC.

Southwest is now coming into ROC, as they take over the AirTran routes - and that's going to hurt traffic at SYR just like Southwest's entry into BUF hurt ROC's business. Sharing an airport with Rochester would be good for the Syracuse and Rochester metros combined.

The existing ROC and SYR airports could be used for corporate aircraft, smaller direct commuter flights, commercial shipping and private aviation, as they both currently are already heavily used for.

We have good inexpensive and frequent service to the NYC airports from ROC, so I usually use JFK, Newark or LaGuardia for overseas travel, and would use a high speed train to NYC for International flights if that project gets off the ground.

One thing is how much is business travel (where the bread-and-butter is) travels beyond the regional markets? Is there enough to support non-stop, longer-haul flights to the western markets?

[Wolfpacker]

Interesting news:

Airport plan aims for the sky - City & Region - The Buffalo News (http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article729019.ece - broken link)


Lets hope Canada and Ontario don't ever get aggressive in reducing air travel costs for their own airports.

[donbuy]

With the tax differential that doesn't seem too likely. Plus it's way easier to clear customs at the bridge than at the airport in Las Vegas or Orlando

[Wolfpacker]

Originally Posted by donbuy

With the tax differential that doesn't seem too likely. Plus it's way easier to clear customs at the bridge than at the airport in Las Vegas or Orlando

I agree with you. Canada is very protective of its own airline, Air Canada, as well. Any idea if the travelers from Canada are mostly leisure, or is their a good stream of business travelers?

The comments on the article make me shake my head as well:

"It is remarkable that the NFTA can plan on spending about a half a billion on an airport which will mostly benefit Canadians, apparently. Yet this inept organization cannot efficiently run a bus line that benefits Western New York riders. "Can't afford it," is their mantra.

DOUG JOHNSTON, EAST AURORA, NY on Sun Feb 12, 2012 at 04:13 PM "


Better to put more money into the Niagara Falls NY International Airport, is less densely populated and who know what plans the Air Force has. The NFTA Buffalo Airport is too crowded with freight and would cost millions to improve..

PHILIP JAMES JAROSZ, BUFFALO, NY on Sun Feb 12, 2012 at 04:19 PM



Man, the comments posted make me shake my head. No wonder we are economically-stupid in the region. The economics of having two commercially-focused airports in this area are very dumb. Airlines are not going to split up flights, stations, and its market between these two airports.

The economies of scale works better for both the airlines and taxpayers/NFTA with one centrally-located airport. Maintaining the runways, terminals, security also have the economies of scales working for them with a growing, centrally-focused airport as well; as splitting up between two airports will make those things much, much more costly.

And last time I think, having Canadian travelers is an economic positive for our region and airport. Jobs are created and revenue (taxes and to the businesses within-and- around the airport) are generated, both through the airport and in the surrounding areas, and the airlines wouldn't be serving as many destinations, or offering as many flights, without the flow from Canada. If the passenger count increases, combined with the planned expansion, I would expect flights, new destinations, revenue, and jobs to increase over time.

Finally, it would be a great recruiting tool for businesses. Airports, and what they offer, are very important to the business community, right up there with costs, taxes, regulations, talent pool, and quality of life.

Sorry for the rant, the comments just made me want to pull my hair out.