Cellphone, Observation Lot at Albany Airport Closing for Upgrade
ALBANY — Albany International Airport will close one of its most popular amenities for the next two-plus months. Airport officials hope it will reopen in time for Thanksgiving and the busy holiday travel season.
The airport announced this week that it would temporarily shut down its cellphone and plane observation parking lot located along Albany Shaker Road, not far from the main entrance into the airport, for about two months starting on Wednesday.
It’s another inconvenience that airline passengers and their friends and family have to endure amid the airport’s ongoing $100 million expansion project, which has involved upgrades to almost every part of the airport property.
The cellphone lot is often full or near capacity and is a popular place for family members and friends to wait for planes to land before picking up travelers. It’s also popular with airplane and aviation buffs looking to pass the time watching planes take off and land.
The lot currently has 32 spaces, but will have 67 spaces when the reconstruction is complete. The airport says the reconstruction should be completed by early November and at the very least by Thanksgiving, although the project has faced years of delays and overruns.
In the meantime, the airport says people can park at an employee parking lot located at the intersection of Albany-Shaker Road and Heritage Lane, or at a paid airport lot, where the first hour is always free.
The popularity of the cellphone lot has grown along with the uptick in travelers passing through Albany International Airport over the years. The airport had a record 1.6 million passengers depart on flights in 2025, a number that is expected to be surpassed this year.
The airport’s CEO, Peter Stuto, said he appreciates the “public’s patience” in the upgrades, including to the popular free lot.
“Expanding the cellphone lot is another part of our ongoing mission to provide a better, more convenient and accommodating airport experience for everyone,” Stuto said.
Airport officials note that the cellphone lot is not for overnight parking and cars left there unattended overnight could be towed.
Matt Hunter, the airport's director of communications, said the new lot design will also make exiting and entering the lot more straightforward for drivers.
While motorists will still be able to enter the cellphone lot from Albany Shaker Road, once reconstruction is completed, they will only be able to exit onto Jetway Drive, the internal road that connects the main terminal to the economy parking lot.
A small road that used to connect Jetway Drive to Albany Shaker Road through the entrance to the cellphone lot will be removed.
Drivers would often use that tiny connection as an exit from Jetway Drive onto Albany Shaker Road. That would happen at the same time other motorists along Albany Shaker Road were trying to turn into the cellphone lot.
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