IATA: BUF – ICAO: KBUF – FAA: BUF
Summary
Airport type		Public, It is named after the Buffalo – Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The airport serves Buffalo, New York as well as Southern Ontario, Canada (private land shuttle services connect Buffalo with Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario). It is the busiest airport in Upstate New York, and the third busiest in New York State by number of boardings.
Owner/Operator		Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority
Serves		Buffalo City & Niagara Falls ,Erie County
Location		Town of Cheektowaga
History		The Greater Buffalo International Airport (as it was then called) was built in 1938 The original terminal, now called the "East Terminal", was heavily expanded between 1975 and 1977.The brand new airport (now renamed The Buffalo-Niagara International Airport) opened on November 3, 1997. The old terminals were demolished
Coordinates
Website		www.buffaloairport.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
5/23	8,827	2,690	Asphalt
14/32	7,161	2,183	Asphalt

DSp Pictures
Year	Minolta		Spot location
Year	Film	Scan	Spot location
1988		8	Inside the terminal before my USair flight to EWR

BUF

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Web information :

History

The Buffalo Municipal Airport (as it was then called) was built in 1926. However, the airport, which officially opened on May 11, 1939, was quickly outgrown, due to larger planes coming on the scene. A 1955 expansion helped remedy this problem. In 1959, after being acquired by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), the name was changed to the Greater Buffalo International Airport. Another renovation in 1961 extensively remodeled the main terminal building and built a new control tower, as well as adding another concourse for American Airlines. Despite all this, the terminal again became outgrown. To address this problem, a second terminal (called the "West Terminal") was constructed in 1971, which was built to last only ten years. The West Terminal had nine gates.

The original terminal, now called the "East Terminal", was heavily expanded between 1975 and 1977. However, no matter how many renovations or expansions the buildings went through, the buildings hadn't aged well. The West terminal, designed as a temporary structure, was nearly 20 years old. In 1982, two gates were added to the north/ east end of the West Terminal, which gates were used by Eastern Air Lines. The landside of the West Terminal was enlarged also, and the originally blue building was around that time repainted gray.

Plans began for a new airport in 1991 after it was found that it was no longer economical to keep renovating and expanding the aging terminals. Construction of the new building designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox began in 1995 in between the two existing buildings. While the new building was being constructed, the existing terminals remained open.

The brand new airport (now renamed The Buffalo-Niagara International Airport) opened on November 3, 1997. It had 14 gates. The old terminals were demolished almost immediately in order to allow any necessary expansion. The new building received an expansion in 1999, increasing the number of gates to 26. In 2006, the main runway was repaved and extended 750 feet (230 m), its first major upgrade since 1980. The secondary runway was extended 1,000 feet (300 m) as well.

In 2004, Buffalo/Niagara Int'l Airport hosted Air Force One. AFO was the first 747 to land in Buffalo. Also, in 2008 the San Diego Chargers football team brought in a Northwest 747, which then went on to London; the team's next game was against the New Orleans Saints at Wembley Stadium as part of the NFL International Series. In May 2009 an Airbus A300-600ST Beluga #3 stopped in Buffalo for an overnight stop with space shuttle parts.

In 2008 some of the local residents made a short-lived attempt to rename the airport to "Buffalo Tim Russert International Airport" after a popular news commentator and a Buffalo native Tim Russert who had died that year.

Southwest Airlines recently surpassed US Airways to become the largest carrier at BUF in terms of number of passengers. US Airways was bumped to second and JetBlue Airways ranked third.

When the Federal Government deregulated the airline industry in 1978, Buffalo was served by four airlines: three "trunk carriers" (American Airlines, United Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines) and one "local service carrier" (Allegheny Airlines). American and United used the East Terminal, and Allegheny and Eastern used the West Terminal.

During the "glory years" for mainline-sized jet service at U.S. medium-size airports in the 1970's and 1980's, Buffalo regularly hosted widebody (twin-aisle) passenger jets. American Airlines operated McDonnell Douglas DC-10's to Chicago O'Hare International Airport and other points. Eastern Air Lines operated Lockheed L-1011s and Airbus A300's to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Eastern's flights often did 'tag-on' hops to Toronto Pearson International Airport due to legal restrictions on flights between the United States and Canada at that time. Buffalo still hosts many mainline passenger jet aircraft, but scheduled flights are now typically limited to narrowbody (single-aisle) aircraft. Today Buffalo hosts widebody passenger flights which are charters for the Buffalo Bills or their visiting National Football League opponents.

Shortly after Deregulation, American and United began reducing service at medium-sized Northeastern markets such as Buffalo, in search of higher profits elsewhere. Many other airlines entered the Buffalo market, and the 1980s saw a riot of new airline service as the industry began to take its post-deregulation shape. Most of these new carriers did not survive the decade.

The most prominent new carrier at Buffalo was People Express Airlines, a low-fare carrier founded in 1981 with a hub at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, next to New York City. Buffalo, along with Norfolk, VA and Columbus, OH was one of the original three cities served by People from Newark. The airline grew rapidly into a major carrier, and at its peak ran over 10 flights per day from Buffalo to Newark. However, too-rapid growth including an ill-considered purchase of the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986), as well as bad management, led to People's demise in 1987. They were bought and assimilated by Continental Airlines. Continental Connection Flight 3407 which crashed six miles short of Runway 23 on February 12, 2009, was operating the old People Express route from Newark.

Other carriers that served Buffalo in the 1980's include (but are not limited to):

TWA (Trans World Airlines), which served Buffalo briefly around 1979-1981 during a short-lived experiment running a hub in Pittsburgh, PA;
Republic Airlines (1979-1986), a Minneapolis, MN-based carrier which ran flights from Buffalo to its hub at Detroit, MI starting in 1984 and which was bought by Northwest Airlines in 1987;
Empire Airlines (1976-1985), a regional carrier based in Utica, NY which built a hub at Syracuse Hancock International Airport after deregulation and ran regional jet and turboprop flights within the Northeast;
Mall Airways, a small regional carrier based at Albany International Airport, operated flights from Buffalo to their Albany hub in the mid-1980's.
Piedmont Airlines, a pre-Deregulation local service carrier from North Carolina which built a hub at Baltimore-Washington International Airport after Deregulation and ran flights to the Northeast, Southeast, and Florida, and was bought by USAir in 1987 and merged into them in 1989.

In 1986-1987, most of the US airline industry consolidated through a series of buyouts and mergers. By the end of 1989 most domestic air service in the US was provided six surviving "legacy carriers." At the end of the 1980's, airline service in Buffalo was provided mostly by these six airlines and their regional affiliates: American, United, Continental, USAir, Northwest, and Delta Air Lines. During the 1990's, with People Express safely vanquished, these carriers kept fares high and enplanements stagnant at Buffalo. The section below discusses the emergence of low-fare service, and the airport's resulting service renaissance, beginning around 2000.

Incidents et accidents

12 juin 1972 : Vol 96 American Airlines. L'accident provient d'une décompression explosive due à l'arrachage de la porte de soute d'un DC-10 appartenant à American Airlines, programmé de Détroit (Michigan) vers Buffalo (État de New York). L'avion est retourné sur Détroit et s'est posé, sans faire de victimes. Deux ans plus tard, le même scénario se répète avec le crash du DC-10 à Ermenonville.
12 février 2009: le vol 3407 Colgan Air, un Dash8-Q400, qui effectuait la liaison entre l'aéroport international Newark Liberty (État de New York) et l'Aéroport international de Buffalo-Niagara était en vol en approche de l'aéroport lorsque l'avion s'écrase au sol, sur une maison, après que les pilotes ont averti avoir rencontré des conditions givrantes. Tous les passagers et membres d'équipages périssent ainsi qu'une personne au sol, l'accident fait 50 morts.

Buffalo, Niagara ( BUF / KBUF) NY, USA

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