By Doug Myers, Director, Public Affairs
Albany International Airport’s new Airmail Facility opened in December. The airport’s aging freight building is being demolished to make room for additional overnight parking for aircraft.
The opening of Albany International Airport’s new U.S. Postal Service Airmail Facility will enable the airport to extend its aircraft parking capability and meet the increased demand for overnight spaces. The airport has seen a 33 percent increase in enplanements over the past five years and must accommodate its growing aircraft fleet mix.
In December, the U.S. Postal Service became the last of the airport’s freight handlers to move out of an outdated belly freight building and into the airport’s expanding Air Cargo Facility. The former freight building, which had been partially demolished to make room for the arrival of Southwest Airlines, will be completely demolished in March. The airport will then construct a new parking pad to accommodate up to four additional jet aircraft.
“We had reached the point where attracting additional flights or airlines was in jeopardy due to lack of overnight aircraft parking spaces,” said John O’Donnell, CEO of the Albany County Airport Authority. “We are now moving quickly to advance the construction of several additional spaces to provide parking for existing and new carriers.”
The 15,000-square-foot mail facility opened just in time to process the annual holiday mail crunch. The single-story structure was built by the Greco Construction Company of Albany and preserves the airport’s design program, which has unified all new structures with matching brick facades. The building offers direct access to the airport’s main runway and includes four truck bays, office space and an employee break room.