Canadian travellers will benefit from major updates to Burlington’s airport
If you haven’t flown through Burlington International Airport (BTV) lately, you might not recognize it. Vermont’s gateway to the world has undergone a multi-million dollar upgrade that makes it even easier for Canadian travellers to fly to sun destinations this winter or anywhere else that they want to go.
The $19 million Terminal Integration Project, which was funded by a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration and has been four years in the making, will connect
the airport’s two existing terminals and consolidate its many security checkpoints into one streamlined and centralized location, which is expected to drastically reduce waiting times for travellers.
“It just creates that level of efficiency and the level of experience for the passenger to flow through what is really the most stressful
part about travelling, which is the security checkpoint,” said the airport’s acting director of aviation, Nicolas Longo.
Knowing that security is a stressful part of the traveller’s journey, Longo said that the aesthetics of the area’s carpet, colour and lighting were all chosen to have a calming effect.
The new space also includes an area where travellers can recompose themselves for a few moments after their security inspection if they need to repack their belongings, put on their shoes or put their belts back on.
To help speed things along, the new checkpoint, which officially opens in October, will also be equipped with state-of-the-art technology that is already being used in larger airports by the Transportation Security Administration across the United States.
Longo said that the consolidated and modernized security checkpoint is the most visible upgrade visitors will notice when they fly out of BTV, but there are many other updates that will improve their experience, some of which are visible and some which are not.
“There are a lot of aesthetic upgrades happening in the airport, like the look of the airport parking garage, but there are a lot of big and small things happening in the background,” said Longo. “Our hope is really to define and improve that passenger experience out of the terminal from parking all the way to the departure of your airplane.”
While most passengers spend the majority of their time in an airport’s terminal building, Longo said that people don’t notice the runways. Part of their renovation project has been to significantly upgrade BTV’S taxiways to create more efficient routes for airplanes to travel from the departure gate to the runway for take-off.
“New efficient routes from the terminal to the departure end of the runway really improve the flow of getting on that plane and off to your destination even quicker. A lot of people don’t think about that, but it’s a major part of our capital plan,” said Longo.
Among the major carriers flying out of BTV, travellers can choose from Delta, American, United, Sun
Country and Jetblue and, depending on the airline, they can enjoy non-stop flights from Burlington to many important destinations across the United States including Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis-saint Paul, New York City (Newark, Laguardia, and JFK), Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. (Washington National and Dulles).
Because several of these airports are major hubs, passengers can connect to just about any international or American domestic destination that their heart desires. For flights within the United States, Longo notes that there are still cost savings for Canadian travellers who choose to fly out of BTV.
“There are certainly different fee and tax structures between the U.S. and Canada so right off the bat, if you’re flying into the U.S. or within the U.S., you’re definitely going to see some cost savings on that ticket price.”
Even while the work on the security checkpoint is completed in the south side of the airport’s terminal, $2 million of renovations will begin in the airport’s north concourse. Beyond that,
the airport is in line for another $35 million for further expansion which will help them attract more airlines and larger aircraft. Longo added that they are also still moving forward with an airport hotel project which he believes will be especially attractive to Canadian
travellers who want to stay close to the airport if they need to catch an early morning flight.
“The terminal is looking better than it ever has before and we’re excited that the border is open and we can welcome back folks from Quebec and Montreal into the Burlington area.”