Buffalo Niagara International Airport (Buffalo Niagara International Airport)
Buffalo Niagara International Airport is in Cheektowaga, New York. The airport serves Buffalo, New York and Niagara Falls, New York United States, and the southern Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. It is the third-busiest airport in the state of New York and the busiest inside of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. It is about 11 mi east of Downtown Buffalo and 60 mi southeast of Toronto (although driving distance is 106 mi). The airport covers 1,000 acre.
Buffalo Municipal Airport (as it was then known) opened in 1926 on former farmland, making it one of the country's oldest public airports. The original airport included a small terminal building, one hangar, and four cinder runways, each 3000 ft long by 100 ft wide. Passenger and mail service began in December 1927, with service to Cleveland. A WPA-built Art Deco v-shaped terminal with a large cylindrical tower began construction in 1938 and was completed in 1939. In 1940–41 Curtiss Aeroplane Co. built a manufacturing hangar on the southeast side of the airport (current Buffalo Airport Center property). With the onset of World War II, the airport was expanded to facilitate aircraft manufacturing, test and acceptance flight activity, and airline flights. The airport had four paved runways: Runway 5/23 was 5630 ft long, Runway 13/31 (now 14/32) was 5730 ft long, Runway 1/19 was 5000 ft long, and Runway 8/26 was 3650 ft long. All of the runways were 150 ft wide.
A new apron was added a few months later. Roadway and parkway improvements were made in the 1940s and 50s. Runways 1–19 and 8–26 were closed in the 1950s, and Runway 13–31 was renamed Runway 14–32.
The terminal's first expansion, to 11 gates, which tripled the terminal's square footage and added a restaurant, was built in 1955. In 1959, after being acquired by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), the name was changed to the Greater Buffalo International Airport. A 1961 renovation/expansion remodeled the main terminal building and built a new control tower and another concourse for American Airlines. The first scheduled jets were American and United 727s in 1965; Runway 5–23 was extended northeast from 5645 ft to 8100 ft later that year. A second terminal (the "West Terminal") was built in 1971 while it was hoped an all-new airport would be built in the near future. The West Terminal was built to last ten years and had nine gates.
Despite the addition of the West Terminal, the original terminal, the "East Terminal", received one more expansion in 1977. New ticket lobbies were built for American Airlines and United Airlines, the original 1938 building was turned into a baggage claim area and jetways were added for the first time. In 1982 two gates were added to the north/east end of the West Terminal, used by Eastern Air Lines. The landside of the West Terminal was also enlarged and the originally blue building was around that time repainted gray.
A large Curtiss-Wright plant once existed at the Airport. Built in 1942, the building was sold to Westinghouse in 1946 after the end of World War II. Westinghouse sold the facility to Buffalo developer Paul Snyder in 1985, who turned the building into the Buffalo Airport Center industrial park. The building was abandoned in 1991 and demolished in 1999 to allow Runway 14/32 to be lengthened. In 2006 the main runway was repaved and extended 750 ft, its first major upgrade since 1980 and the secondary runway was extended 1000 ft.
In 2008 some local residents made a short-lived attempt to rename the airport to "Buffalo Tim Russert International Airport" after popular news commentator and a Buffalo native Tim Russert who had died that year.
Buffalo Municipal Airport (as it was then known) opened in 1926 on former farmland, making it one of the country's oldest public airports. The original airport included a small terminal building, one hangar, and four cinder runways, each 3000 ft long by 100 ft wide. Passenger and mail service began in December 1927, with service to Cleveland. A WPA-built Art Deco v-shaped terminal with a large cylindrical tower began construction in 1938 and was completed in 1939. In 1940–41 Curtiss Aeroplane Co. built a manufacturing hangar on the southeast side of the airport (current Buffalo Airport Center property). With the onset of World War II, the airport was expanded to facilitate aircraft manufacturing, test and acceptance flight activity, and airline flights. The airport had four paved runways: Runway 5/23 was 5630 ft long, Runway 13/31 (now 14/32) was 5730 ft long, Runway 1/19 was 5000 ft long, and Runway 8/26 was 3650 ft long. All of the runways were 150 ft wide.
A new apron was added a few months later. Roadway and parkway improvements were made in the 1940s and 50s. Runways 1–19 and 8–26 were closed in the 1950s, and Runway 13–31 was renamed Runway 14–32.
The terminal's first expansion, to 11 gates, which tripled the terminal's square footage and added a restaurant, was built in 1955. In 1959, after being acquired by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), the name was changed to the Greater Buffalo International Airport. A 1961 renovation/expansion remodeled the main terminal building and built a new control tower and another concourse for American Airlines. The first scheduled jets were American and United 727s in 1965; Runway 5–23 was extended northeast from 5645 ft to 8100 ft later that year. A second terminal (the "West Terminal") was built in 1971 while it was hoped an all-new airport would be built in the near future. The West Terminal was built to last ten years and had nine gates.
Despite the addition of the West Terminal, the original terminal, the "East Terminal", received one more expansion in 1977. New ticket lobbies were built for American Airlines and United Airlines, the original 1938 building was turned into a baggage claim area and jetways were added for the first time. In 1982 two gates were added to the north/east end of the West Terminal, used by Eastern Air Lines. The landside of the West Terminal was also enlarged and the originally blue building was around that time repainted gray.
A large Curtiss-Wright plant once existed at the Airport. Built in 1942, the building was sold to Westinghouse in 1946 after the end of World War II. Westinghouse sold the facility to Buffalo developer Paul Snyder in 1985, who turned the building into the Buffalo Airport Center industrial park. The building was abandoned in 1991 and demolished in 1999 to allow Runway 14/32 to be lengthened. In 2006 the main runway was repaved and extended 750 ft, its first major upgrade since 1980 and the secondary runway was extended 1000 ft.
In 2008 some local residents made a short-lived attempt to rename the airport to "Buffalo Tim Russert International Airport" after popular news commentator and a Buffalo native Tim Russert who had died that year.
IATA Code | BUF | ICAO Code | KBUF | FAA Code | |
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Home page | Hyperlink |
Map - Buffalo Niagara International Airport (Buffalo Niagara International Airport)
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Currency / Language
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USD | United States dollar | $ | 2 |
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