Buffalo Niagara International Airport (IATA: BUF, FAA LID: BUF, ICAO: KBUF) is a public airport situated in Cheektowaga, New York. It is owned and operated via Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. The BUF serves Buffalo, New York, and the south Golden Horseshoe region in Ontario, Canada. It became the 3rdbusiest airport in New York State and the most active outside of the New York City metropolitan. The airport is about 11 mi (18 km) distance at the east of Downtown Buffalo and 60 mi (97 km) south-east of Toronto. The airport is at elevation 727 ft. (222 m), covers around 1,000 acres (4 km²), and holds two runways.
The Capacity of Buffalo Niagara International Airport
The BUF airport has approximately 100 daily flights along with non-stop service to 30 airports around the U.S., Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. According to the airport traffic jam, in 2018, BUF served around 5,014,000 passengers.
Brief History of Buffalo Niagara International Airport
BUF airport was previously named Buffalo Municipal Airport, which opened on former farmland in 1926, which makes the BUF one of the country's oldest public airports. The old airport included single, small terminal building, four cinder runways (3,000 ft. Length and 100 ft. Width), and one hangar. In December 1927, the first Passenger and Mail service began along with service to Cleveland.
Business activity and expansion of BUF
In 1955 the terminal was expanded for the first time. It received 11 gates and a restaurant. Later in 1959, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), required the change of the name of the airport, and it became the Greater Buffalo International Airport.
In 1961 another renovation remodeled the main terminal complex and built a new control tower for American Airlines. A second terminal called West Terminal was founded in 1971 to last about ten years and included nine gates. In 1997 the new $56 million terminals opened with 15 gates. The old terminals were destroyed immediately to allow enlargement of the whole building. New 24 gates were added to the main terminal, and the entire building currently has a total of 462,256 square ft. (42,945.0 m²).
In late 2017 the terminal began another $80 million expansion with 54,000 square ft. (5,000 m²). New facilities have been added, such as secure walkways on the east and west side for arriving passengers, relocated the central exit walkway, and eliminated blockages for departing passengers on the 2ndfloor.