Greater Rochester International Airport

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Greater Rochester International Airport (IATA: ROC, ICAO: KROC, FAA LID: ROC) is a county-owned public-use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) southwest of the central business district of Rochester, a city in Monroe County, New York, United States.^[2] It serves as the major airport of the metro area known as Greater Rochester (composed by the city of Rochester and the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Orleans and Wayne). The airport is owned and operated by Monroe County.

While the airport terminal is in operation 24 hours a day, airport ticket counters are opened based on the individual schedules of the various airlines.

The airport has free public Wi-Fi available in the main concourse, extending as far as the first few gates in each of the terminals. The service is provided by local telephone company Frontier.

[edit] History

The first developments of the Greater Rochester International Airport began in 1927, with the construction of Hangar No. 1 on a patch of land south of Rochester on Scottsville Road. At the time the airport was named Britton Field. This same year, the first scheduled passenger flights between New York City and Rochester were made. In 1928, the name of the field was changed to Rochester Municipal Airport and additional construction was completed, including improvements to the runways and drainage system, and the building of Hangar No. 2. As a result of the First and Second World Wars the airport saw a period of great expansion as passenger volume, frequency of scheduled flights, and civilian pilot training greatly increased. Also, a cadet flight training school, with nearly 1,000 students, was created.

On January 1, 1948 Monroe County took possession and control of the airport. The county made numerous improvements to the facility, including the construction of an instrumental runway measuring 5000 feet, an extension of the north-south runway from 2,670 ft to 5000 ft, and the building of administration facilities on Brooks Avenue.

A new red-brick, single-level passenger terminal was opened on Brooks Avenue in 1953. It was expanded substantially in 1963, and expanded again in 1978 and 1980. The building had only one floor, until a small second floor was added for administrative offices as part of the 1980 expansion. At this time the airport was called the "Rochester Monroe County Airport."

After the 1963 expansion gave it its final configuration, the terminal had ten gates in two concourses. A small three-gate concourse at the east end served American Airlines, and a longer, angled concourse at the west end served Mohawk Airlines (four gates on the east side) and United Airlines (three gates on the west side).

Jet service was initiated at ROC in 1965 by American Airlines, who introduced the Boeing 727. However, the airport's two longest runways, 10-28 (5500') and 1-19 (5,000') were of less than ideal length for jet aircraft. In 1967 Monroe County built the current longest runway, the NE-to-SW-angled 4-22. It was originally completed at 7,000' and extended in 1968 to its current length of 8,000'. 10-28 remains the airport's crosswind runway. Runway 7-25, currently 4000' long, is useful for propeller general aviation aircraft.

The terminal's first jetways were added to gates 1 and 3 by American in 1977. As part of the 1978 expansion, new lounge space was built for Allegheny Airlines (successor to Mohawk) with three jetways. In about 1986 the airline (by then renamed USAir) added a fourth jetway. The 1980 expansion included two new lounge areas for United, each of which had one jetway. In 1987, Piedmont Airlines, which had taken over the United lounge closest to the terminal, added a second jetway to it.

The large new low-fare carrier Peoplexpress Airlines arrived at the airport in 1985. There was not room for them inside the terminal. A small ticket counter was built in office space in the northwest corner of the terminal, and a wooden peaked-roof shed was built on to house their outbound-baggage area, departure lounge, and baggage claim. No jetway was added. People's effect on fares was dramatic; ROC's enplanements increased 38% in 1985. When Continental Airlines took People over in 1987, they moved operations into the main terminal and shared gate space with American. The shed was removed.

In the mid-1980's, Monroe County Legislator Van Buren N. Hansford, Sr. (R-Pittsford) introduced successful legislation to have the airport's name changed to "Greater Rochester International Airport."

The terminal was outgrown by the mid 1980s, and debate began about expanding the airport. In 1985, the administration of Monroe County Executive Lucien A. Morin (R) proposed a complicated terminal expansion that would have had baggage claim carousels across the driveway in a separate building, which tugs would have reached by a tunnel, and passengers would have reached by second-floor bridge corridors.

The County got as far as building temporary parking lots to the west and closing the main parking lots to begin construction on a garage. However, in 1988 the new County Executive, Thomas R. Frey (D) and the County Legislature had doubts about the cost of the project, and it was abandoned without any construction having taken place.

ROC's passenger terminal seen from an approaching aircraft in December 2005.

In 1988, Monroe County approved a $109 million plan to replace the terminal with an entirely-new two-level facility with a second-level approach road and parking garage. The new facilities were built in stages on the exact site, between 1989 and 1992. Ticketing and departures are on the second floor, and baggage claim is on the first floor. The County Legislature authorized the creation of a "Monroe County Airport Authority" to issue the bonds for the construction.

This terminal has two angled concourses, each with 11 gates. Current gate assignments are listed below. The eastern or B concourse opened in summer 1990. The eastern half of the main terminal opened in 1991. The western half of the main terminal, western or B concourse, and garage, all opened in 1992. A series of temporary prefabricated buildings were used to provide gate space and one baggage carousel during the construction.

ROC's ticketing lobby, seen in September 2002.

By the end of the 1980's, The New York Air National Guard constructed a small hangar and office facility, and apron space, on the south side of the airport near the control tower. This facility has since been expanded.

In 2006, Monroe County consolidated the separate security checkpoints at each concourse, to one central security checkpoint. Monroe County argued that this arrangement, although it would close the terminal's large concessions atrium and airfield views to nonpassengers, would be more efficient and save money. The county replaced the lost public airfield view with a new viewing area at the west end of the terminal.

In 2008, renovations were undertaken to replace floors, carpets, and seating in the concourses, move explosives-scanning equipment from the ticketing lobby to the outbound baggage room, and replace 't' shaped baggage claim carousels with 360-degree walkaround carousels which receive luggage from belts through the ceiling.

Northwest Airlink Avro Regional Jet at Gate B3 in September 2005, with Concourse A in the background. Northwest has since retired this type of aircraft.

In January 2009, the airport began work on an extension of the three-story parking garage to the west.

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Greater Rochester International Airport covers an area of 1,136 acres (460 ha) at an elevation of 559 feet (170 m) above mean sea level. It has three runways:^[2]

• Runway 4/22: 8,001 x 140 ft. (2,439 x 43 m), Surface: Concrete
• Runway 7/25: 4,000 x 100 ft. (1,219 x 30 m), Surface: Asphalt
• Runway 10/28: 5,500 x 150 ft. (1,676 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt

In 2008, the airport completed a project to put two service roads around the end of Runway 28, near Interstate 390, in tunnels. The ground was graded upwards beyond the end of the runway to cover the tunnels. Earlier in the decade, a 500-foot overrun area was added to the 10 end of this runway. An Engineered materials arrestor system (EMAS) of about 200 feet was added to this extension. The EMAS consists of soft rubberized concrete into which an overrunning aircraft's wheels can sink, and the aircraft ostensibly be stopped safely before it veers onto the grass.

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 137,601 aircraft operations, an average of 376 per day: 43% general aviation, 34% air taxi, 21% scheduled commercial and 3% military. At that time there were 94 aircraft based at this airport: 68% single-engine, 17% multi-engine and 15% jet.^[2]

[edit] Plane sizes

Passenger service at Rochester is provided by a mixture of regional (fewer than about 100 seats) and narrowbody mainline (single-aisle with about 100 seats or larger) aircraft. The most common mainline passenger aircraft are Airbus A319s and A320s, Boeing 737s, Boeing 717s, and McDonnell Douglas MD-88s, and DC-9s. The most common regional aircraft include jets such as the Canadair CRJ-200, CRJ-700 and CRJ-900, the Embraer ERJ-145, and the wider, mainline-like Embraer EMB-170 and EMB-190. There are also regional turboprops including the DeHavilland Dash 8 and Dash 8 Q400.

Northwest Airlink CRJ-900 at gate B3, being prepared for a flight to Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

The largest plane ever to come to ROC is Air Force One, a Boeing 747-200, which brought President George W. Bush on visits in 2005 and 2006. In 1995 Rochester hosted the Professional Golf Association Ryder Cup, and the European team arrived on a British Airways Concorde. The Concorde visited Rochester for the first time in the fall of 1986, chartered by AAA for a "Concorde to London,/QE2 ocean liner the way back" trip.

The largest scheduled aircraft to serve ROC was the widebody (twin-aisle) McDonnell Douglas DC-10. American Airlines operated the aircraft at ROC from 1972 until the fall of 1973, when the aircraft was withdrawn from ROC after the oil crisis. The July 1, 1973 AA timetable indicates that the aircraft was flown nonstop four times daily, from Rochester once each to Cleveland, New York-LaGuardia, Chicago, and Syracuse.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 727-200 arrives at ROC in September 2002.

From 1973 until 1981, the largest regularly scheduled aircraft at the airport was typically the Boeing 707, also operated by American. AA withdrew the aircraft from Rochester in 1981, when AA chairman Robert Crandall retired the fleet type from the carrier altogether due to its fuel inefficiency.

JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 at ROC in September 2002, departing for New York-John F. Kennedy Airport.

From 1981 until 2003, the Boeing 727-200 was typically the largest regularly scheduled passenger aircraft at ROC. It was operated by numerous carriers to ROC during that period. Delta Air Lines' retirement of the aircraft type (which it had operated from Rochester to Atlanta and Syracuse) in the summer of 2003, ended the type's career on scheduled passenger service at ROC.

Since 2003, the Airbus A320, operated regularly by JetBlue Airways and occasionally by United Airlines and US Airways, has typically been the airport's largest scheduled passenger aircraft. Some summers US Airways has operated the larger Airbus A321 on flights from Rochester to Philadelphia.

Since the summer of 2001, the largest scheduled aircraft at Rochester has been the widebody Airbus A300-600, operated by Federal Express several times daily to the carrier's main sorting hub in Memphis, TN. During the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, freight carriers such as Emery Worldwide and BAX Global flew Douglas DC-8s, including the stretch DC-8-71 version, to ROC. In 2009, Airborne Express is operating widebody Boeing 767-200 cargo aircraft into Rochester.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Concourse A (Frederick Douglass Concourse)

Aircraft at Concourse A in 2007: AirTran Airways Boeing 737-700, JetBlue Airways A320, and US Airways Express Embraer 175. United Airlines Boeing 737-300 is in the background.

AirTran Boeing 717-200 arrives at gate A2 from Baltimore-Washington Airport in June 2009

[edit] Concourse B (Susan B. Anthony Concourse)

Concourse B, with Northwest Airlines DC-9-30 parked at Gate B3.

Delta Air Lines MD-88 departing ROC for Atlanta in June 2009

[edit] Cargo

Two buildings of ROC's USAirports cargo terminal, seen from a departing jet in August 2007.

Greater Rochester International Airport has a cargo terminal in the northwest corner of the airfield. The terminal is operated by USAirports. This terminal consists of three cargo buildings, two hangars, and USAirports' three-story headquarters administrative building. The company was founded in Rochester in the 1980's as Airport Systems and later changed its name to USAirports. The company operates cargo terminals at several airports in the United States.

This cargo terminal handles:

• ABX Air
• Other non-FedEx cargo carriers.

Federal Express operates its own cargo terminal on the southern border of the airport on Scottsville Road. It handles:

• FedEx Express
  • FedEx Feeder operated by Wiggins Airways

[edit] General aviation

[edit] Flying clubs

• Airdale Flying Club
• Rochester Flying Club, founded in 1958
• Artisan Flying Club

[edit] Flight schools

• Rochester Air Center - Part 61 and 141
• AirVenture Aviation - Closed

[edit] FBOs

• Landmark Aviation

[edit] Service history

From the beginning of civil aviation until U.S. Airline Deregulation in 1978, Rochester mostly had passenger service from the following three "legacy" airlines or their predecessors:

• American Airlines. American served Rochester with its own aircraft until 2003, when it turned over all operations to its American Eagle regional affiliate. American has historically served largely westbound traffic to the Midwest and West, and before Deregulation served some regional business destinations as well. AA's Eagle affiliate briefly served regional business centers such as New York and Boston, with connections to Europe and the Caribbean via its JFK hub, from about 1999-2001, but that service ended after 9/11. Before Deregulation, American was often Rochester's largest carrier.
• United Airlines. United has served Rochester since 1961, when it bought Capitol Airlines which served Rochester at that time. United and its regional affiliates serve Rochester today. United historically has served westbound travel to the Midwest and West, as well as regional and southbound (Florida and mid-South) before Deregulation. UA also now offers connections from Rochester to Asia via its Chicago-O'Hare hub and to Europe via its Washington-Dulles hub.
• US Airways. US Airways was founded as All American Aviation Company, and was called Allegheny Airlines until 1979 when they changed their name to USAir. The airline adopted its current name in 1997. Allegheny entered Rochester in 1972 when it bought Mohawk Airlines which then served Rochester. In 1986 USAir bought Piedmont Airlines which had been in Rochester since 1984, and merged Piedmont into itself in 1989. US Airways and its regional affiliates serve Rochester today. Historically the airline has served mostly regional traffic to business centers, with connections via hubs to the Midwest and, since the Piedmont acquisition, the South as well. US also offers connections to Europe via its Philadelphia hub. US's 2004 merger with Phoenix, AZ-based America West Airlines had little effect on Rochester, as the airline does not fly to the Phoenix hub from Rochester.

After the industry was deregulated, American and United began to reduce service at Rochester, particularly on regional point-to-point flights, seeking greater profits elsewhere. Other airlines, many recently-founded, entered the Rochester market in the 1980's as part of a huge expansion of the industry after Deregulation. Most of these carriers did not survive the tumultuous 1980's. Examples of carriers that that served Rochester in the 1980's but no longer serve the market include:

• Air North, a small commuter airline, started offering regional flights at Rochester about 1980; they became part of Brockway Air (see below) in 1984.
• Altair Airlines, a small regional carrier, opened a hub at Philadelphia shortly after Deregulation and operated Fokker F-28 jet aircraft. Around 1980-1982 they offered flights from Rochester to that hub, and went out of business about 1982.
• Best Airlines, a small carrier that flew miscellaneous flights in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on strikingly-painted McDonnell Douglas DC-9-10's, served Rochester in the mid 1980s.
• Brockway Air was a regional turboprop carrier that offered flights from Rochester to their hub at Greater Binghamton Airport (Edwin A. Link Field) in the mid 1980s. They later became a Piedmont Airlines affiliate carrier and then a TWA affiliate carrier.
• City Express, a Canadian regional airline, briefly offered flights from Rochester to Toronto Island Airport in the late 1980s using Dash 7's. They were Rochester's first foreign carrier. Today, Air Canada's Air Georgian affiliate is the only foreign carrier serving Rochester.
• Eastern Air Lines, which entered Rochester in 1979, shortly after Airline Deregulation. They operated flights to their Atlanta hub, to other regional and Florida points, and later to a Philadelphia hub. They mostly used DC-9's and Boeing 727's at ROC. The then third-largest airline in the United States served Rochester until 1989, when it left the market during its decline before its 1991 shutdown. Eastern was immediately replaced in Rochester by its Atlanta hub competitor, Delta Air Lines, which serves Rochester today.

• Empire Airlines (1976-1985) was a regional carrier founded in Utica, NY in the 1970s, which opened a hub at Syracuse Hancock International Airport after Deregulation. Empire entered Rochester about 1980 and offered regional jet and turboprop flights in the Northeast. Piedmont bought Empire and merged them into itself in 1986.
• Mall Airways was a small regional airline which served Rochester in the 1980s. They offered regional flights on small turboprop aircraft, mostly to their hub at Albany International Airport. They briefly offered nonstop flights from Rochester to Montreal.
• Midway Airlines was founded in 1981 with a hub at Chicago Midway Airport. In the late 1980s they opened a hub at Philadelphia International Airport which replaced a hub at that airport shuttered by Eastern. Midway served Rochester with flights on DC-9 aircraft to Philadelphia from 1989 until near their liquidation in 1991.

• New York Air, a low-cost airline founded after deregulation, entered Rochester in early 1985. They served Rochester with red-painted DC-9's, Boeing 737's, and MD-80's to a hub at Newark International Airport and later Washington Dulles International Airport until their owner, Texas Air Corp., folded them into the company's Continental Airlines unit in 1987.
• Pan American World Airways' regional affiliate flew turboprop regional flights to Rochester from the mid 1980s until about the airline's 1991 shutdown. These were entirely flights to feed the airline's international flights at New York-JFK.
• Peoplexpress Airlines, a large low-cost airline founded in 1981 with a hub at what is now called Newark Liberty International Airport, entered Rochester in February 1985. However, by a series of bad decisions they became financially unviable. They served Rochester until they were bought by Texas Air Corporation and folded into Texas Air's Continental Airlines unit in 1987. Continental's Continental Express and Continental Connection affiliates serve Rochester today.
• Piedmont Airlines was a pre-deregulation local service carrier based in North Carolina which expanded into the Northeast with a hub at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. They entered Rochester in the fall of 1984 with flights to Baltimore. They were bought by USAir in 1986 and were merged into USAir in 1989.
• Republic Airlines (1979-1986) entered Rochester in the fall of 1984 and offered flights to its Detroit hub. Republic merged in 1987 with Northwest Airlines, which serves Rochester today. Northwest will soon be merged with Delta, who bought them in the fall of 2008.
• Trans World Airlines' regional affiliate flew turboprop regional flights to Rochester in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. These were mostly feeder flights to the carrier's international flights at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, and flights to regional business centers.

Between 1986-1989 the airline industry consolidated through a series of mergers so that the industry was dominated by six "legacy" carriers; American, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental, and USAir. By the end of the decade Rochester was served by these carriers and their regional affiliates. These airlines with high "legacy" cost structures figured out by the mid-1990's that they had no reason to compete on price. Thus, by that time they kept fares high and enplanements stagnant at ROC. However, some new carriers did enter Rochester during the 1990's. Some carriers that served Rochester in that decade but did not last include:

Eastwind Airlines 737-700 arrives at ROC from Boston in August 1998

• America West Airlines operated commuter flights on a regional affiliate's Dash 8 turboprop aircraft to its hub at Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio in 1993 and 1994. The Phoenix, AZ-based airline had opened the Columbus hub largely to allow an in-perimeter jump-off point to serve slot-restricted East Coast airports such as New York-LaGuardia and Washington National. The airline's attempt to do some feeder service at Columbus from regional airports did not last.
• Eastwind Airlines was a small low-fare carrier that flew around the East Coast using Boeing 737s in the late 1990s. In 1998 Eastwind offered flights from Rochester to Boston Logan International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. They flew too-large aircraft, with few opportunities for connections. Also, many Rochester businesspeople would not give up their employer-funded legacy-carrier frequent-flier miles during the flush late 1990's to support low fares. Eastwind lasted less than six months at Rochester.
• Midway Airlines (1993-2003) was founded in the mid-1990s and operated a hub at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina that "succeeded" American's recently-shut-down hub at that airport. From about 1998 to shortly before their shutdown as a stand-alone carrier in August 2001, Midway II operated flights from Rochester to this hub with Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets.
• Midwest Airlines, a premium-service carrier with a hub at Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport (and then called Midwest Express), served Rochester in the 1990's. These flights, operated by Midwest's Skyway Airlines subsidiary using small Beechcraft 1900 turboprop aircraft, did not go to the Milwaukee hub but rather to Flint, MI Bishop International Airport. The flights were run under contract with General Motors' Delphi subsidiary to connect its plants in Rochester and Flint. The flights appeared in Midwest's timetable as bookable public flights, but most passengers were probably Delphi-related. ROC is as of 2009 the only Upstate New York airport ever to have had scheduled service in some form from Midwest.

By the end of the 1990's, new, stronger low-cost carriers began to emerge, and by 2000 things began to change for Rochester. In 2000 the highly-capitalized low-fare startup carrier JetBlue Airways entered ROC with flights to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport; JetBlue now offers nonstops to Orlando, Florida as well. In 2002 Atlanta-based low-fare powerhouse AirTran Airways entered ROC with nonstops to Atlanta and Baltimore-Washington, and later to various points in Florida.

Rochester's enplanements picked up with these new low-fare entrants, who could hold their own against legacy carriers. Now (2009) the airport has a diversified, competitive grouping of airlines. Air Canada, while not a low-fare carrier, entered Rochester with flights on regional affiliates to its main hub at Toronto. One carrier that served Rochester in this decade and withdrew is:

• Independence Air or "FLYi," a regional airline formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines that had been a United Express affiliate carrier at Washington Dulles International Airport. ACA reinvented itself as low-fare carrier FLYi in 2004 and ran their hub at Dulles. They operated up to eight dailies from Rochester to Dulles. However, their fleet of high-cost Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets was not sufficiently offset by their small fleet of efficient Airbus A319's to sustain their low fares. Also, United fought back unexpectedly hard at Dulles. Independence Air lasted from 2004 to 2006. They left Rochester shortly before their 2006 shutdown.

Currently, the airlines serving Rochester serve the traffic flows listed below. American, United, and US Airways are discussed above. Nonstop flights, including non-hub flights, are listed in the table above.

• Air Canada offers connections throughout Canada, and to Asia and Europe, via its Toronto hub.
• AirTran Airways offers connections throughout the East and Midwest, and to the West Coast, via its Atlanta and Baltimore hubs.
• Continental Airlines offers connections to Europe, Asia, the East, Midwest, and South, via its Newark hub, and to the Midwest, West, and South via its Cleveland hub.
• Delta Air Lines offers connections to the South, West, Europe, Caribbean, and Latin America via its Atlanta hub. Delta offers connections to the Midwest and West via its rapidly-decreasing Cincinnati hub. It also offers connections to many European cities via its New York-JFK hub.
• JetBlue Airways offers connections to Florida, the East Coast, Caribbean, and West Coast via its New York-JFK hub.
• Northwest Airlines is currently (mid-2009) being merged into Delta. It serves Midwest, West, and Asia traffic via its hubs at Detroit and Minneapolis.

[edit] Incidents

Mohawk Airlines Flight 121 crashed July 2, 1963, killing 7 people and injuring 36.

Air Canada flight 7405 destined for Toronto Pearson International Airport was called back over suspicion about a Sri Lankan couple carrying fake passports on July 19, 2006

An American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 skidded off of Runway 22 during landing, onto snowy, muddy grass, during the winter of 1972-1973. The aircraft had to be towed out of the mud and was moved to the terminal.

Allegheny Airlines Flight 453 crash-landed on July 9, 1978, while arriving from Boston Logan International Airport. The BAC-111 aircraft was carrying 77 people. According to the NTSB report, the flight landed on Runway 28 at too high a speed, but with sufficient performance capability to reject the landing. The pilots chose to continue the landing, the aircraft skidded off the end of the runway, and its landing gear were sheared off by a ditch. There were no fatalities. The aircraft was written off.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Greater Rochester International Airport

• New York State DOT Airport DiagramPDF
• FAA Airport Diagram(PDF), effective 2 July 2009
• FAA Terminal Procedures for ROC, effective 2 July 2009
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KROC
  • ASN accident history for ROC
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KROC
  • FAA current ROC delay information
• Rochester Wiki Airport Page