Riding through some turbulence

Though not yet back to its pre-9/11 passenger level, BWI has bounced back faster than most other airports around the country. Unfortunately, its popularity is sometimes reflected by long lines and traffic tie-ups. The new Executive Director of the Maryland Aviation Administration, Paul J. Wiedenfeld, recently discussed security delays, the airport’s massive expansion plans and issues surrounding his appointment in April.

How much progress has been made in the $1.8 billion expansion plan?

Let me start with the garage. We will have 3,000 parking spaces there by this Thanksgiving. They are on schedule if not slightly ahead. So that’s moving along very nicely. The terminal roadwork that is associated with that garage, the new return road, is moving very well. We opened up a new outbound lane of 195. We are shooting for a September/October time frame to complete that work.

If you’ve been in lately, as you enter the upper level to your left you will see we are putting in the [new] roadway. We’re probably maybe a quarter of the way there. That’s scheduled for [completion] after the first of the year.

The other thing you’ll see as you go by, we’ve taken out two of the pedestrian crossings from the existing garage. We’re starting the construction of the sky bridges from the top level of the garage, taking pedestrians off the roadway. They’ll cross in conditioned space into a small lobby area and then down into the ticketing counter area. That’s going very well. We’re doing most of that work at night.

The other big, major project is the new rental car facility. The actual garage part of that is well under way. It will be completed in November 2003.

In terms of disruptions for people trying to get to the airport then, they’ll start to see that getting better in the fall?

When a person comes into the airport, they see a lot of construction. The reality is, they probably feel very little of it. Now there are certain points of the day when they may hit some things – cones – to move people around things. But, most of the time during peak times they are hitting the same number of lanes that we’ve had in the past, but they are surrounded by construction. The feel, I think, often is greater than the reality.

Were any of those expansion plans changed at all after September 11, either because of new security concerns or lower passenger numbers?

No. Our projects were under way and we feel we still need them. We needed them yesterday even with lower numbers. Even though we are slightly lower than we were last year we continue to be higher than the nation as a whole. The drop here is much less than it is at other airports.

Southwest is extremely aggressive in what they’re doing. They continue to push very hard. So we need to meet their needs. A number of airlines here have continued to grow. AirTran, Delta and American are very strong. We’ve got to stay ahead of the curve.

It’s not just security; the country’s been in recession. It’s reflecting that, too. As those things start to pull back up we’re going to need everything you see under construction.

When the airport first reopened after September 11, BWI had more security delay complaints than any other airport at one point. Are some of those long lines going away now that the Transportation Security Administration has taken over?

Yes. A number of things have occurred. One is that we were the initial airport for [the TSA.] Because of that we went through some growing pains. The TSA has as well. We’ve overcome a lot of those. We have people here now who are going to be our permanent BWI screeners. They’ve done a great job in getting the wait down to less than 10 minutes, which is their goal. Occasionally, during peak periods, they may go up above that, but 10 to 20 minutes is the maximum that we’ve been seeing.

There has been one hot spot for us and that is Pier D. We have three lanes to get people into Pier D, and the volumes there require seven machines to get us where we need to be. We have that under construction. Seven machines will be in place by the first week of August.

Southwest handles about 40 percent of the business at the airport, more than the next three airlines combined. Any concern of having too many eggs in one basket with them?

The region we live in is so strong -- it’s the fourth largest consumer market in the country. That will remain. Southwest has done a great job of tapping into that market. We also have a number of airlines that we’d like to do more. We’re working with them now to try to accommodate them. We do have other competitors wanting to do more here; American AirTran and Delta come to mind.

Have they gotten to the point yet where they fill the hole left by USAirways diminished service?

Yes. We, basically, have filled up all available gates.

There was some controversy surrounding your appointment in April. Your former employer, Parsons Brinckerhoff, is working on the airport’s expansion. Has that caused any conflicts?

No. I’m not involved at that level. That’s not my role. That’s done with the engineering staff or the planning staff or whatever.

While day to day you might not be involved, it still crosses your desk doesn’t it?

I’ve left the firm and there is no relationship with that firm or any other firm. The procurement process that we have in place is such that we have committees that review projects. They go before a board, which reviews how firms are selected. Eventually it goes to the board of public works. I don’t do contracts. That’s not the way it works.

Do you feel like the controversy has eroded your authority at all or made it harder to manage the airport?

Let me just step back. Before I took the job, I had to make sure that we had all the tools in place and that we had a commitment from all levels for the airport. That’s what I’ve been focusing on. The staff here has been through a lot in terms of dealing with a major expansion plan. They’ve been running very hard and very strong. That’s what we continue to do.

So, no, you don’t feel like it has affected you?

No, not at all.

Outside of the current expansion plans, do you have any other long-term goals for the airport? Another runway is something some have mentioned.

Initially, we have to work on some things in the terminal. We want to get as much space as we can within the terminal. We need to do things to improve baggage handling.

We continue to work on just what the future needs are. There is a capacity study that is partially driven by the Federal Aviation Administration. That’s not complete yet, so we don’t know when that’s coming or what numbers are going to show from that yet. But, we’ll continue to keep an eye on that, the need to expand.