The Greater Binghamton Airport

[27 Time World Champions]

Or perhaps I should call it the Greater Binghamton Money Pit!

They have 1 flight going out of there every day.  ONE!  It's a 2:30pm Delta flight to Detroit.  That's it! That's all it's been for a long time now.  1 freaking flight.

If you want to go to Florida from Binghamton.  You have to take that 2:30pm Delta flight to Detroit and then transfer.  If you want to fly out of Binghamton to NYC, guess what?  Yep! Gotta go to Detroit first on that 2:30pm flight.  Is this why they built a multi-million dollar runway? For that 2:30pm flight to Detroit? 

On top of all this BS, they currently have 10 full-time TSO officers.  Why does it take 10 TSO officers to handle 1 flight to Detroit each day?

What kind of a sweetheart deal did the political hacks make with Delta?

What is going on? 

How much money is this Airport losing each day? Year?

[SouthSider09]

From what I understand they did the runway project to try and attract more flights to the airport, but that time has long come & gone. There are too many other options within reasonable driving range that people will go to instead of Binghamton. Elmira / Syracuse / Scranton-Wilkes all have been flight options, and better costs. Soon the Binghamton Airport will turn into something similar to Tri Cities

[ginger]

Agree 27...I saw that when I was looking for flights to visit mom in Florida. Like anyone is going to spend 9 hours just to fly out of Binghamton. I've been saying it for years...when somebody in this town wants a payday....

https://clip.cafe/goodfellas-1990/whenever-needed-money/

[Bingoloid]

This is a serious problem. It's much more difficult to attract businesses and job candidates of any kind - or even remote workers - when people figure out what an expensive and time-consuming pain in the ass it is to visit family or take normal vacations from here like any other middle-class American family. We've talked about moving up to the Finger Lakes just to be closer to SYR, but where she can still commute to her office two or three times a week. Even foreign students from developing countries are surprised at the transportation situation when they get here.

High pricing out of BGM aside, the problem with the DTW hub is that a mid-day flight doesn't do anything very well. Outbounds are OK to catch an evening flight, but you'll arrive almost anywhere too late to settle in and have dinner at a good hour, but early enough that you need a hotel for that wasted night. Inbounds are worse. There are places, even this side of the Mississippi, where it can take 20+ hours to get back here if you can't get back to DTW in the morning in time for that flight to BGM. DTW is a fine airport, but nobody likes Detroit enough to want to sleep there.

Would like to see at least two Delta flights, an early and a late, like every other little airport, and either move one (or both) to JFK, or with a JetBlue connector to one of the NYC airports. If they can't do anything about that they may as well start looking into getting EAS subsidy and letting Cape Air do it all on little Tecnams, or find a company to run a (clean, professionally-managed) shuttle direct to EWR a few times a day. I'm guessing they won't support the latter because they're scared of cannibalizing what's left of the airport, but the priority needs to be on serving customers, not maintaining civil service jobs or whatever.

[Skyhawk]

As an aviation enthusiast, I couldn't be more frustrated with the Binghamton Airport.  There hasn't been competent leadership since Carl Beardsley left Binghamton for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  The management in Binghamton cannot negotiate with another airline, they have proven that over and over again.  If the airport had more tenants, everyone's rent would go down, and flights out of Binghamton would be more affordable.  That is the bottom line.

In addition, the events are the airport are terrible.  I've been to over 50 air shows.  And the Binghamton air show over the summer was one of the worst organized events I've ever been to.

The staff at the airport can't even keep up on basic services like landscaping.  I was at the airport two weeks ago, and the landscaping was atrocious. 

If they can't mow the grass, how can we expect them to meet with America or United airlines?   

[Bingoloid]

23 minutes ago, Skyhawk said:

If they can't mow the grass, how can we expect them to meet with America or United airlines?   

I posted a bit about this a couple years ago when it happened, but I was on a Delta flight out of JFK, flipping through the in-flight magazine, and opened it to a 25-page spread on the Lehigh Valley. All about the many (alleged) wonders of moving your business there: supportive government agencies, affordable real estate, with history and outdoor adventures and small city nightlife for your employees.

Allentown ain't that great, and it ain't that far from here, but they managed to work closely with Delta and get it in front of millions of business decision-makers worldwide.

By comparison, our present mayor tried to claim that he understood the brain drain driving skilled workers out of the area - because he ran a local bar.

[ndirish]

It'll never happen, but wouldn't it make sense to "merge" Binghamton, Ithaca, and Elmira airports.  Build a new one out along 17/86, somewhat "splitting the distance" between the three existing.  

[Spuds]

Never happen- too sensible!

2 hours ago, ndirish said:

It'll never happen, but wouldn't it make sense to "merge" Binghamton, Ithaca, and Elmira airports.  Build a new one out along 17/86, somewhat "splitting the distance" between the three existing.  

 

[Mr. Met]

SYR just got Southwest. I think I saw a Piper land at BGM.

[Bingoloid]

4 hours ago, Mr. Met said:

SYR just got Southwest. I think I saw a Piper land at BGM.

Alright, so here's a mystery to solve. I pulled the chart and there's a Castle Aviation flight from Rochester due at 9:21, Piper Aerostar 600. Says it's late though, over Seneca Lake now.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/csj920

Most nights, this flight, CSJ920, runs from Burlington to Akron to Rochester to Binghamton and back to Burlington. I wonder what it is?

[Mr. Met]

Adam Weitsmans drugs?

 

I kid I kid, I actually had no idea a Piper was there. Just trying to be facetious haha

[Facts Are Better]

Those flights are priority/expedited freight/cargo flights.

[27 Time World Champions]

7 minutes ago, Facts Are Better said:

Those flights are priority/expedited freight/cargo flights.

[Bo Marsh]

It was good enough for Elvis:

https://biography.elvis.com.au/elvis-presley-events-1977.shtml
May 23 - Providence, R.I. Civic Center
May 24 - Augusta, Maine. Civic Center
May 25 - Rochester, N.Y. Community War Memorial
May 26 - Binghamton. N.Y.

May 26, Elvis' private jet, the Lisa Marie, had just landed after a Rochester-to-Binghamton, N.Y. flight. Grob, the chief of security, had just warned Elvis that they were in a restricted gun-carry area.

It was about 3 a.m. May 26, and a crowd of fans and dignitaries, including Elvis' manager, Col. Tom Parker, and a high-ranking law officer, had gathered to welcome Elvis.

Still wearing pajama-like karate gear, Elvis began descending the portable stairs when the crowd started cheering as a spotlight hit him. As he lifted his arms to acknowledge the reception, two loaded semiautomatic Colt pistols fell from his waistband and bounced down the steps. 'Elvis had a sheepish grin as he came down'.

Waiting was the local police chief or ranking officer. Elvis 'completely disarmed the man by shaking his hand and introducing himself'. 'The guy handed him the guns and said, 'I believe these are yours Mr. Presley'. Elvis stuck 'em back in his waistband'. The guns are now on display at Graceland. At another concert, around the same time, a loaded .22-caliber derringer popped out of one of Elvis' stage boots and bounced on the stage right in front of rhythm guitarist John Wilkinson, 'who did not like guns'. It was retrieved about 20 minutes later.

May 27 - Binghamton. N.Y.
May 28 - Philadelphia, Pa. Spectrum
May 29 - Baltimore, Md. Civic Center
May 29 - 60 second RCA Elvis radio commercials played in Australia (Welcome To My World)
May 30 - Jacksonville, Fla. Coliseum

 

 

[27 Time World Champions]

7 hours ago, Bo Marsh said:

It was good enough for Elvis:

https://biography.elvis.com.au/elvis-presley-events-1977.shtml
May 23 - Providence, R.I. Civic Center
May 24 - Augusta, Maine. Civic Center
May 25 - Rochester, N.Y. Community War Memorial
May 26 - Binghamton. N.Y.

May 26, Elvis' private jet, the Lisa Marie, had just landed after a Rochester-to-Binghamton, N.Y. flight. Grob, the chief of security, had just warned Elvis that they were in a restricted gun-carry area.

It was about 3 a.m. May 26, and a crowd of fans and dignitaries, including Elvis' manager, Col. Tom Parker, and a high-ranking law officer, had gathered to welcome Elvis.

Still wearing pajama-like karate gear, Elvis began descending the portable stairs when the crowd started cheering as a spotlight hit him. As he lifted his arms to acknowledge the reception, two loaded semiautomatic Colt pistols fell from his waistband and bounced down the steps. 'Elvis had a sheepish grin as he came down'.

Waiting was the local police chief or ranking officer. Elvis 'completely disarmed the man by shaking his hand and introducing himself'. 'The guy handed him the guns and said, 'I believe these are yours Mr. Presley'. Elvis stuck 'em back in his waistband'. The guns are now on display at Graceland. At another concert, around the same time, a loaded .22-caliber derringer popped out of one of Elvis' stage boots and bounced on the stage right in front of rhythm guitarist John Wilkinson, 'who did not like guns'. It was retrieved about 20 minutes later.

May 27 - Binghamton. N.Y.
May 28 - Philadelphia, Pa. Spectrum
May 29 - Baltimore, Md. Civic Center
May 29 - 60 second RCA Elvis radio commercials played in Australia (Welcome To My World)
May 30 - Jacksonville, Fla. Coliseum

 

 

The King was dead less than 2 months later. Binghamton was probably his best last performance. 
 

 

[Bingoloid]

14 hours ago, Facts Are Better said:

Those flights are priority/expedited freight/cargo flights.

That's interesting, thanks for the answer. Kind of an unexpected route. 

[Bo Marsh]

6 hours ago, 27 Time World Champions said:

The King was dead less than 2 months later. Binghamton was probably his best last performance. 
 

 

Very cool!