As the Albany International Airport continues undergoing its multimillion-dollar transformation, WAMC’s Samantha Simmons took a tour with CEO Peter Stuto and has this report.
The $100 million transformation, made possible by a $60 million state grant and nearly $30 million in federal funding, began in the summer of 2023.
With construction expected to wrap up in summer 2026, Stuto says creating a welcoming environment for frazzled travelers is a top priority.
“If you go to an into a space that's nice and spacious and relaxing, you're going to be in a better mood,” Stuto said. “Any anxieties that you might have will dissipate. If you have spaces where your children can play, you know playing is important, or the children can relax. I think that's going to help and help the passenger experience immensely.”
The authority is also attempting to creating more welcoming spaces with new, rotating and permanent art installations, a feature that was already there previously. But now, travelers will have more to appreciate.
And another top priority…
“I'm all about seating. That's one of my current things, that I want to make sure people have comfortable spaces to eat or to do work or to just pass time in a pleasant way while they're waiting for their flights,” Stuto said.
Along with enhanced comfort, travelers will soon be able to move through security up to 25 percent faster with new checkpoints and security lanes. That’s according to Matt Hunter, a spokesperson for the airport.
“Currently we have six lanes. This is the area where everybody exits into the terminal. Once the new departure hall is complete, TSA will push backwards into that space, and we will have room for a seventh lane, which will be in this direction. So, in addition to the longer conveyor belts that we were talking about before, that extra lane, we expect that to increase and improve the speed that travelers pass through our checkpoint.”
Stuto says the airport has been completing work in phases, allowing airport operators to reopen newly renovated or constructed areas as work continues. While taking a tour of the newest improvements, Stuto says officials looked to other airports for what works well and maximizes efficiency and makes Albany a destination.
“I've been here a total of 30 years, approximately, not always as the CEO, but what I've learned recently is we have a lot of people that come to Albany as a destination for all the sites that we have here, the Adirondacks, Cooperstown, the Berkshires, Lake George, the Catskills. And so, we're a destination, actually, and we're trying to market that,” Stuto said. “And so back to your original question. We think it'll be another facet of attracting the new airlines and showing them that we can accommodate all the customers.”
During a hard-hat walk through of the soon-to-be departure hall, Stuto, who was named CEO in 2024 after slew of leadership turmoil, says the space will open early next year.
“I would say it's taking about as long as we expected it to take when, when we came in 14 or 15 months ago, we phased the project,” Stuto said. “We realized it was a complex project, and so we put it in/on? our schedule into phases, so we can give different parts of the project to the public in an incremental way. So now, as you saw, we're delivering the business center, the children's play area and the sensory room, and we've all, we're also delivering concourse A which is 95% complete.”
Other minor but meaningful upgrades include changes to ticketing counters, including making them more accessible, an upgraded terminal A, and a quiet space for people to do business. Stuto spoke with a family using the sensory-friendly play space and asked for feedback.
“You've been exploring, could we use better signage to draw the kids down," Stuto asked.
“I think so,” the mother said. “Like, if you had a sign in that area up there…”
“Yeah,” Stuto said.
“Because I had no idea,” the mother added.
“I agree with you. So, we're working on that,” Stuto said.
“I thought it was just, it says play place and I thought, when I was walking by, I thought it was just that little area that they could play up there, up at the top,” the grandmother said.
“Yeah, right. We got to get, we got to pull kids down here, yeah. Partly, I'm glad you're all enjoying it and safe travels."
