Latest / Conversations with Mark / Conversations with the Gerald R. Ford International Airport
Transcript
- Mark Huizenga: Well, hey everybody. It's another ⁓ podcast with Conversations with Mark. Today we have with us, Tori Richardson. He's the president and CEO of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. This is a busy time of year, but I think probably every time of the year is busy around here. there's so much going on at the airport here. People Grand Rapids, think we know how great we have it, but I consistently hear from people about what an amazing airport we have. People will fly in and to come to meetings in Lansing and they'll say, What a gem you have here. So congratulations on that and thank you for running a really great operation. The airport's seen a tremendous amount of growth in the last couple years and there's more underway right now. Can you talk with us a little bit about projects you have here right now and what that looks like ⁓ forward? Absolutely. I'm happy to do so. And thanks for coming out Mark and checking in with us and just to see what's going on. ⁓ As you mentioned, every day is a busy day. So we have eight airlines flying to 35 nonstop destinations. another record passenger level this last year with a little more than ⁓ 4.3 million passengers. So we continue to see that growth and people in West Michigan continue to want to fly. So can I interrupt you and say how many people ⁓ were flying through here like maybe pre COVID or maybe 15 years for comparison? ⁓ that was ⁓ under 2 million. So it's been more than, yeah, it's more than doubled in that, in that timeframe. Yeah, that's the growth, right? So how do we keep up with it? That's our challenge. That's the everyday challenge that we're dealing with now. Well, but I think it's important to note if you've doubled the passenger volume here for an airport this size, it still feels like home airport. It feels like you walk in. It doesn't feel much different. It's a little, it's nicer. improvements, but it doesn't feel like there's doubled the volume. You guys have the secret sauce to make people feel like this is the place you want to be. And it doesn't feel like it's the big airport. And that's a great point. And that's something that we're very focused on. So we do want it to feel like it's easy to navigate. It's intuitive, it's efficient, it's quick. And the passenger journey can be one that is seamless, yet it's a large enough facility that you can get what you need. You can get what you want. So we try to tailor so the facilities are large enough that it feeds and serves everybody in terms of their needs. But yet it's small enough that you can still get from the parking lot to the gate in a very short time. And so all of the design that we do for all these facility expansions are with that in mind. So you ask, know, how much construction is going on out here? A lot. So if you back up just a few years ago and to the announcement when we the Elevate program, which was a series of several large projects all aimed at enhancing the facilities, but also expanding them to continue with that growth. So Concourse was the first one, right? That was the first one out of the box. That was meant to expand the terminal concourse, both the gate hold areas, but also paving the way out on the apron area for more space for airplanes. So we were under size in terms of being able to facilitate airplanes at the gates. so having more gates, larger gate areas, more space for those planes out on the ramp, but then also just the amenities that we brought into the facility itself with, you know, theme decor throughout the terminal, new food, beverage, retail options. We have, you know, the adult changing tables. We have pet relief areas. We have the sensory room. So really intentionally designing things into the facilities to make sure that we are ultra accessible and that we are not a barrier to somebody's journey, but we're a part of it and hopefully something that helps enhance it. the first few gates though, it, I mean, those are, was it 1960s, 1950s design, whatever. So they're, They're narrower, they're smaller windows, but your expansion, it looks like the nicest of nice airports. You added you added width, ⁓ you also added capacity. So the passengers that go through there have one of the most beautiful places to wait, ⁓ you've also really mastered the acoustics. So a lot of airports are really busy and they feel extra busy. ⁓ I think maybe that's one of the hometown attributes that I see is that you can sit at your gate and you can hear them calling out from the gate agent and talking about what's happening. without everything being all over each other. You've just really done a great job of that. I appreciate that. And again, the team works very intentional with those items and those elements in mind. So how do you serve that? And so in the concourse, say expansion, when you look at the new facilities, food and beverage retail, all being out in the center, all close to the gates, but in the center where you can literally see all the gates not be stuck in kind of a carve out in the in the wall on the way down there and not really knowing what's going on. People want to be able to see what's happening at their gate. So they like to be able to relax at a restaurant, be able to see everything that's going on around them. So if there's a gate change or something, they feel like they're part of that. They're connected. They can see what's happening and they can move as opposed to feeling a little bit isolated in some of those, you know, dark dingy old hold rooms like you referenced that we had back to the sixties, old traditional functional designs. in addition to the concourse A, so we didn't stop there. That was, you know, of the half billion dollar Elevate program. That was a hundred and fifteen million of it. So at the same time we were building Concourse A, we broke ground on our Consolidated Rental Car Facility, which is the state's first Consolidated Rental Car Facility. think people probably don't really know what that is. And so when they drive here, ⁓ it's like the next new parking deck that you have off to the north ⁓ northeast ish, I guess you'd say. But really, does a lot of things. It's not just consolidation. It's something that's going to save fuel, ⁓ time, energy. and incredibly added convenience for passengers instead of having to go to offsite car rentals and things like that. got to save them a lot of money too. ⁓ Yeah, and that was really the heart of it is a couple, you portions of the project were aimed different elements. One was we need more parking space. So about 1500 spaces short for close and covered parking. Getting the rental cars out of the existing public parking and into their own facility was one element of it. The other is in that own you know, facility for all the rental car operations. You're right. It's removing the congestion out on the roadway and the emissions that those vehicles are putting out when they're having to drive and shuttle those vehicles up and down for the next, you know, guests to rent them here in the Consolidated Rental Car Facility does exactly what it sounds right. Consolidates all the operations so they will fuel it. They'll, you know, service it with with getting it washed and vacuumed and clean and ready for the next person to come in to the customer service building and be able to do their rental transaction. and come and go and all of it's connected with a, you know, elevated climate controlled, you know, walkway from there. So it's all, all a part of the building and seamless. It's easy to navigate, but it is more efficient for the rental car operators. And it's also enhancing the guest experience. And we can't wait to see that open up and release that to the public later this summer. And we did an unveiling with some art that's over there it's really cool. think the public's really going to enjoy getting over there and seeing that facility, even if they don't need to rent a car. think it's something that they want to. It's a nice amenity that we can be proud of in West Michigan. absolutely. The other side of the terminal, you've got a lot going on. When I drove up today, I saw the number 175,000 square feet addition and I'm sure, ⁓ well, I'll tell you, ⁓ I wonder ⁓ what are you doing with And I'm sure the ⁓ that this airport wonder what's going to go on. And you know, mystery is being unveiled of like, what's going to happen to make this place even better. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Absolutely. So we try to tell a little bit of that story as you see driving in what's happening just to keep the public informed. But as you mentioned, we've got a lot of great projects going on and really behind the scenes, behind those walls, you know, the barricades of stuff is a lot of construction activity. So that's another $135 million investment in our infrastructure really designed to consolidate all of the ticket counter functions for the airlines into one area. primarily to serve an inline baggage system. So behind the scenes, the public will never see it, but they'll use it every time they fly after checking a bag. It'll have the conveyances, the security screening for transportation, security administration, going through the screening process for outbound bags. But that'll also go to an automated sortation for the airlines to make sure it gets to the right airline to go out into the right airplane. And then on the upper level, some administrative office space. And really, that's the first part of this terminal enhancement project. we've got to get the airlines out of their existing ticket counter areas into the new space. And a later phase will include coming back and redesigning the baggage coming in or the baggage claim area. So the devices that we have today, there's not enough of them. They're too small. Again, they go back to back in the sixties, seventies, eighties, we're flying, you know, smaller airplanes and we don't have those today. We have much larger airplanes, more people, more bags, and those devices are just not big enough. that expansion. We'll start to see the public will begin to see some of that this year as we start moving airlines into that new space. But the project wraps up at the end of 2027. And again, that's another one of those, you very large expansion infrastructure improvements that we've got going on. And in addition, you know, we, we plan 40 years out. So when we're talking, you know, talking about what are the future plans look like, we're already looking 40 years out. What does the airfield look like? You know, we've got plans for a North parking garage, which is this. North parking lot today, but that's going to be a six level parking garage with an adjoining hotel attached to it. That can't be done until we move our air traffic control tower, which is an ongoing project that we finally have now cleared all of the hurdles in terms of siting, environmental design, all that stuff is done. Now we're ready to do the construction and build that up out of the ground. And that'll take us a couple of years once we get the green light for the construction, but that will pave the way for more work to happen within the terminal core area. with the parking garage, with the hotel and some of the other amenities. Well, you you mentioned 40 years. The average family thinks about where are we going to be in 10 years? The fact that you're talking about a 40 year duration. mean, obviously there's federal approvals or state approvals. There's lots of bureaucracy to work for, work through, but it's very deliberate and intentional about what the growth looks like. If you had the crystal ball and said, okay, mark that 40 years from now. If I was to envision this, what would it look like just from a macro? Are we looking at additional concourses. know, one of the most common questions I get from people is it's the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. When are we going to see International? Is that going be part of that? And mentioned Hotel. It's been talked about for a while and we've talked about it and worked on the tower relocation for a long time. All those things kind of come together, but the crystal ball, what does it look like in 40 years? you know, behind the scenes, it takes a long time to get through all of those steps, right? And so, and they're all sequenced in terms of having the right project done at the right time to allow for the next project to happen. So if it's an enabling project, that crystal ball includes a lot of the things that you just mentioned. So a federal inspection station or FIS as it's called, that is what is needed to process international passengers and their baggage. That facility will be built between the existing terminal today and what is the consolidated rental car facility later this summer. So it'll fill in that space and that will be the the final phase that we need to do for processing international passengers. But that's a process that's in place today and we're working with the airlines and what that looks like. Where would those routes go? How would they operate? And getting customs and Border Patrol out here to staff that. Beyond that, we also have, as I mentioned, a new air traffic control tower that will change the landscape of what it looks like out here. Instead of being on top of the terminal building, it'll be on the other side of the airfield, more closely ⁓ to the cargo facilities, FedEx and UPS. but also opening up that entire space for additional hangars, maintenance, repair, overhaul type of work that's happening. So more jobs, more businesses located on the airfield. You mentioned concourses. So at some point we outgrow, even though we just did concourse A, we do outgrow concourse A and B capacity. And that's probably in that 10 year timeframe. And so we're working with airlines today about what does that look like? When does that trigger get hit? And when do we need to be ready with designs to see what that space is going to look like? And literally it's out there where the terminal enhancement project is happening today, that's an extension and then a parallel concourse that would go along what we know as concourse A today. probably re-labeling what they are. Concourse C or concourse three, how will we renumber and re-label them? amazing. You know, every business and organization has stories that are special to them. ⁓ And I think about the special moments that happen right here this airport. We think about people coming home from the military. We think about families coming home from being sick. There's lots of special moments here. Can you tell us a little bit about the moments that you think are some of the more special ones? ⁓ Yeah, and so for us, it's really that people connection, right? So as you mentioned, every day we have 10 to 20,000 people through our doors, and every one of those people are on a journey have a story. ⁓ And so some of those are very positive, very uplifting. ⁓ the family going to Disney, it's the guys going on the hunting trip or the girls going on a bachelorette party or a destination wedding, so that you have the highs and then you also have the lows, unfortunately. It's somebody that was here to say goodbye to a loved one for the last time. It's sending a child to go live with the other parent because of their family situation. So you have these emotional highs and emotional lows all mixing right next to each other. They're literally right next to each other. checking in with the airlines, checking in with TSA, sitting at one of the restaurants, getting on one of the airplanes. And so for us, that is the place with the most hugs and tears of any other facility every single day. And so what can we do to make their journeys, their stories as positive as possible, knowing that in some cases it's just not a very ⁓ pleasant So how can we improve that? And how do we do our little part, taking that very serious, but how do we make that just a little bit more positive, a little bit better. And so some of the public things are, yeah, the honor flights where we love to send our military men and women into the nation's capital, see some of the monuments and memorials that are built in their honor for the work that they've done. But we also have Operation Handshake where we welcome those folks back. There's things like Make-A-Wish flights, Angel flights, things like that, and ⁓ of Mercy. Those are... Great organizations really working behind the scenes in most cases and people don't really notice that they're doing this every day. And they're really making the impossible possible for some of those families that might have a different need. All those things work together to make West Michigan a really special place. ⁓ And the airport's really at the center of it for so many people. And I think if you look at that number that you said 10 and 20,000 people ⁓ in and out of these doors every day. It's amazing. We're fortunate to have such a great facility and a great leader like you. Tori, thank you so much for all you do. you, you to ⁓ all the staff at the airport here. We appreciate it. Thank you.