Watertown International Airport to expand parking again

Dec. 06--Due to high passenger volume, Jefferson County is expanding the parking lot at Watertown International Airport again.

Jefferson County runs the airport, off Route 12F. Crews added a gravel parking lot by the passenger terminal in October in preparation for commercial service by American Eagle Airlines.

"We made room for 60 cars in the gravel lot at the airport and now we will add space for another 30 cars," county Highway Superintendent James L. Lawrence Jr. said. "We are seeing the need from the last holiday season, around Thanksgiving. We didn't have parking spaces available for everyone there."

Free parking is one of the benefits county and area business officials are touting about flying from the airport, 22529 Airport Drive. American Eagle, the regional service partner of American Airlines, began flying a 44-seat Embraer ERJ-140 aircraft to the airport Nov. 17. Twelve flights a week take passengers from Jefferson County to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

For the past few years, Cape Air has transported passengers on nine-seat planes to Albany. A small paved parking lot has sufficed. But after American Eagle won an Essential Air Service contract to fly to Jefferson County, county officials planned upgrades to the terminal to handle additional passengers and baggage and extension to the parking area.

Highway Department crews are putting in the parking lot.

"Materials will come from the airport's capital budget," Mr. Lawrence said. "We expect water lines to be coming next year, so we will pave the parking lot after that."

American Eagle will receive $3 million each year from the federal Department of Transportation for the contract. American Eagle, Fort Worth, Texas, has 1,700 daily departures from 180 airports.

The number of passengers dropped off a little after Thanksgiving, but Mr. Lawrence isn't worried.

"The forecast continues to increase and it looks like we'll see the same, and more, at the next holiday season," he said.

Copyright 2011 - Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.