BANGOR, Maine — Even after losing a direct airline route to Florida last spring, Bangor International Airport remains busy enough that its director is scouting out nearby land parcels to address a parking space shortage.
“It was actually overwhelming last year. This is a good problem to have, but it still remains a problem that we need a solution to,” said Tony Caruso, BIA director.
Caruso said there are a few reasons why long-term parking crunch time seems to occur in late winter-early spring: Many people take school and family vacations at that time, it’s a prime time for snow birds and retirees to travel to and from Maine and more and more Canadians — particularly from New Brunswick — are booking flights out of BIA due to a big price disparity between Canadian and U.S. air fares.
In an effort to address that problem, Caruso and some aides made a presentation to the Bangor City Council’s Airport Committee on a plan to build a $568,000 “satellite” parking lot near the intersection of Godfrey Boulevard and Maine Avenue.
That plan didn’t receive much support on Monday from councilors, as many expressed concerns about a lack of a shelter for travelers to wait for a proposed shuttle bus during adverse weather conditions. Other issues concerned location, cost and size.
After one airport official responded to a question about a lack of a bus stop or shelter, Council Chairman and Mayor Cary Weston said, “I wasn’t impressed with your answer.”
Weston also suggested possibly creating a transportation hub for city buses and taxis closer to BIA, maybe at a satellite lot location.
Committee members voted 5-0 to table the matter for a month to give BIA officials more time to address the committee’s concerns.
“We have another month to revamp our proposal and get together with code and other city officials to review our best options,” said Caruso. “We’re evaluating a few locations. We want to consider factors such as passengers’ safety, cost, location and proximity, and convenience.”
The satellite lot idea resulted from a space crunch the airport has experienced each of the last few years.
“ The last few years, we’ve known we have a peak demand period, primarily for vehicle parking, during the months of February through April,” Caruso explained. “Last year, we used every nook and cranny we could.”
Caruso isn’t exaggerating. The airport has resorted to using spots designated specifically for hotel and airport employees.
“We parked cars on Godfrey Boulevard and even used an airport hangar, and we still ran out of parking,” Caruso said.
Caruso said even with the monthlong delay, there’s still time to enact a revised parking plan before February.
“The sooner the better. We want to research all options and hope to have a solution — even temporary — but we don’t want customers’ cars parked on Godfrey again,” Caruso said.
Councilor Nelson Durgin expressed doubt as to passenger numbers increasing.
“I think losing the Allegiant Air route can have a deleterious effect on the number of passengers,” he said.
Caruso said Allegiant Air’s decision to terminate its popular direct flight service to and from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last spring came as a surprise to many.
“We started high with demand and it was steady throughout the time the service was offered,” Caruso said. “I think they had 80-90 percent [passenger] load factors, so we were a little shocked at the decision.”
Caruso said Allegiant’s performance standards are different from those of most airlines because they promote themselves as a travel package service rather than just an airline.
“Most of their business is package-based rather than flight-based, so that affects what they deem a profitable route,” said Caruso, who added that Bangor still offers service to Fort Lauderdale, but through flight connections as opposed to direct flights.
Still, Caruso doesn’t expect the change to drastically lower the demand for long and short-term passenger parking.
“We know it’ll affect our passenger numbers, but I don’t think it’ll have as much of an effect on our peak travel months,” he said.
There are dozens of acres of paved, unused parking lot surrounding the approach to the airport. Why in the world would we expand anything. Paint a few lines, stick a minimum wage guy in a shuttle van during peak hours and move on.
That’s exactly where this satellite parking is supposed to go. Its already there, all they have to do is improve drainage, add some lights, and give it a new topcoat of asphalt.
When are we gonna get service to Boston?
There are more important aviation cities that BGR should be connected to, Chicago O’Hare, Newark Liberty, and Atlanta come to mind. A flight to Boston would need to be priced to the point that it would be unlikely that it would be profitable for an airline to operate it.
Delta(ORD & ATL) and U S Air (BOS, EWR, ORD & ATL) can get you there. Only problem is there are no non-stop flights any longer. You have to go thru a “hub” city along the way.
I wish Delta had their flight to Atlanta again. Possibly with the addition of the AirTran 717’s or more of the Embraer 170’s they could bring it back. Anything to avoid LGA.
Service to Boston would be great, I think Alligent airlines is a bad idea to begin with.
What’s wrong with Allegiant? It’s great to be able to take one flight from here to Tampa Bay or Sanford. Any other airline would be more expensive and require a stopover.
Allegiant is great if you want to spend you time in a plane full of screaming kids.
I got a round trip for two plus a car for the weekend for $340. I’ll put up with screaming kids for a couple of hours at that price.
Allegiant is a good idea for many of us that don’t have the money that other airlines charge.
Bite the bullet and build a parking garage. Do it right or don’t do it at all. We live in Maine. Who wants to return home in winter to a foot of snow covering your car?
Tissue! Lot cheaper than building you a parking garage!
Not all all. I personally don’t use the airport parking. I do fly from both BGR and PWM often however. If BGR is going to compete in the modern world of air travel, its needs modern facilities. A parking garage would be a step towards modernization. BGR as it stands today is a “no frills” airport *but,* airfares are at a premium price. Things that promote passenger convenience and value for dollar will bring flyers to Bangor. A satellite lot is not convenient nor is it a good value. There are shuttle driver salaries, bus costs (purchase, maintenance, fuel). Sometimes you need to look long term to see the value instead of the short term cost savings of the quick fix.
Apparently some of the councilors think they know more about what is happening at the airport than the airport manager. You think they’re maybe trying to use this as another push to move the bus hub out of downtown?
There is that parcel that’s on the corner of Maine and Godfrey that they could take advantage of. It’s about 1/4 mile from the airport, but it would be more than adequate for the Airport’s needs.
That’s interesting about that Allegiant route. It was only announced in November 2011 that they would from from Bangor to Ft. Lauderdale. Oh, well. As long as the other two towns are offered, that’s still good.
As for flying out of Bangor in general, it is STILL way TOO expensive for many flights. It’s still cheaper, in many cases, to drive to Portland, stay in a hotel and park your car there for the duration than to pay the high rates out of Bangor.
I took a flight to Akron, OH last year and I thought my fare on Delta was pretty good. It was less than $300 for a round trip ticket. I guess it depends on where you’re going and when you book your flight. It’s not always too expensive to fly out of Bangor.
I’m tired of the unpredictable way Delta flies into and out of Bangor.
My flights to and from Bangor have routinely been cancelled due to weather. The last one was cancelled due to “weather ” in NYC. Delta cancelled the flight 10 hours before it was scheduled to depart. The rain ended 9 hours before the flight was scheduled. The pilot on the inbound flight commented “this is a great night to be flying”. We were left to pay for our own hotels and meals in NYC-no Delta vouchers.
We’ve also been involuntarily bumped by Delta without the appropriate compensation from overbooked flights. If you are involuntarily bumped the airline is supposed to give you a copy of the passenger’s bill of rights and the option for cash/check compensation. If you are involuntarily bumped, delays over 4 hours entitle you to 400% of the cost of a one-way ticket up to $1300. Has anyone in Bangor received this from Delta?
I’ve never had issues flying Delta out of Bangor. The thing you have to realize is the decision usually isn’t one made in Bangor. The majority of the time these decisions are made in New York but Bangor takes the heft of the disgruntled travelers. The cancellations are sometimes made due to a backup in air traffic caused by the weather. There is only so much airspace over NYC to service LaGuardia, JFK, Newark and Teterboro so they try to minimize their risk as best they can.
As far as being bumped, you can’t blame that on Bangor either. I’ve had issues while flying on Delta but it was more of an overall airport issue rather than the airline. If you can’t deal with these problems as they arise you could always drive.