Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2024

LATEST BUZZ

officer at SYR] and [director of business development] Linda [Ryan] to come up with what concept they were looking for. Our approach is really working hand in-hand [with airports], especially in medium-sized hubs versus large hubs,” explains Brown. “With the medium-sized hubs, the operator gets more opportunity to sit down and curate what we’re going to be doing.” In the case of Qdoba – which will be located next to GTMS’s lounge – “the question that we really examined closely [was], ‘Is there going to be any cannibalization? Is it going to cut into the visits to the lounge?’” says Brown. “There’s always been this question, since common-use lounges came on the scene. But what we found is that no [there won’t be cannibalization], most of the passengers that use a lounge, they’re looking specifically for a lounge,” says Brown. “And then there’s this other segment that are going to their gate, [and want to know] ‘Where can I get something really quick to take to my gate?’” Having visited other high-performing Qdoba locations as a passenger, Brown decided that the brand would make the perfect fit for on-the-go SYR passengers. “What we found is that there’s a big desire for Mexican eats in that region,” he adds. The team at Gideon Toal chose Einstein Bros. Bagels “because of the name recognition,” says Brown, noting that the concept will have a prime location for time-restricted passengers. “It’s about handling, managing and delivering the passenger needs, “says Brown. “Syracuse is very cyclical in terms of the flow of passengers. In the morning there’s a big hit with a lot of passengers, so [breakfast] is what they wanted to be able to offer,” he adds. “We’re an O&D airport,” adds Mehl. “We don’t have a lot of dwell time, so sit-down restaurants don’t make as much sense. When you look at all of our peak periods in this airport, every table at the sit-down restaurants is taken and it takes a little bit longer to turn those tables, which is leaving a lot of experience on the table, if you will, from a passenger experience standpoint,” he says. In adding Qdoba and Einstein Bros. Bagels, “We’re complementing those sit-down restaurants with a quick turn solution so people can grab their food – something that’s national,

Left, Below: Two new concessions will be added during the SYR expansion. National brands Einstein Bros. Bagels and Qdoba were chosen for their quick service and broad appeal.

something that’s well-known, [and] that complements a lot of our local flavor,” Mehl adds. And if the reaction to the airport’s new Qdoba and Einstein Bros. Bagels is anything like what GTMS has experienced with its lounge, “it’s going to be really successful,” says Brown. “At first the lounge was doing 75 a day; now it averages between 250-300 a day.” Brown believes that the stats prove Syracuse is on a strong growth trajectory that has “opened a lane” for ACDBEs like GTMS, he adds. Additional Improvements It’s a growth trajectory that SYR plans to maintain. “Where we thought we were going to be in 2030, we’re going to hit between next year and 2026, so we’ve had to accelerate our development program by about five years,” says Terreri. In addition to the current New York state funded project, the airport is also in the midst of planning a renovation of its South Concourse, a $6.7 million project

which will be PFC funded; a $9.7 million HVAC upgrade; has secured a $3 million grant to expand its checkpoint facilities and is seeking a $30 million DOT ATP grant to replace its center terminal roof. “There’s a lot going on in our region that’s driving a lot of our growth right now,” says Terreri, who adds that SYR plans to undertake approximately $5 billion of work over the next five years, in part to keep up with the region’s fast growing technology sector. “We have Micron Technologies building the largest chip manufacturing facility nine miles north of our airport, so there’s a lot happening right now that we have to get ready for,” says Terreri. But as the current project moves toward completion, Terreri looks forward to receiving customer feedback on SYR’s upgraded spaces. The ultimate goal, says Terreri, is “providing an opportunity for the airlines to expand [where] we’re able to accommodate it and still maintain that really high level of customer service.”

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AX NEWS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2024