As They Lose Traffic, Once Bustling Airports Have Space to Rent

[min-chi-cbus]

flying is not a very sustainable business model anyways (as it currently stands), and unless this country decides it needs to subsidize the airline industry (God help us all!) I don't see flying being the dominant form of transportation in this country in 20-30 years (assuming oil prices are at or above $100-$150 per barrel).

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by mhays

I can imagine certain types of employers wanting to locate close to the airport, particularly if they can be close to transit, hotels, etc. If they can walk to the terminal that would be a huge advantage for those that travel constantly.

But the existing terminals might be very tough to turn into usable offices cost-effectively. They'd have to be separated from the airport security area. They tend to have odd layouts (skinny and long) on the terminal levels, and their ground level spaces are basically factories. With high ceilings they probably require a lot of HVAC. Realistically, the terminal sites might be more useful as land for new buildings.

Then again, selling part of your terminal sites, doesn't that suggest giving up on returning to your former volume?

Revenue from renting or selling doesn't sound very high. As landlord you'd share the buildout cost, which would likely be the equivalent of a few years' rent. Maybe over the course of a 10-year lease you'd net $200/sf. For a 1,000' x 100' terminal space that would be $20,000,000....tiny compared to the debt levels of many airports. Same with selling....that same figure might be in the right ballpark depending on the local office market and renovation costs.

As for a convention center, most terminals aren't laid out for it. The central spaces might be ok in some cases, but the concourses would be partially useless except the nearest portions would often make good meeting rooms. The hotels would like it if they were close enough, but how often are hotels walkable to the terminal? You'd be competing with the downtown convention center as well as anyone interested in drawing tourists into town.

The specifics will be wildly different per location of course.

What about warehousing/multimodal freight yards? Portland has a huge amount of warehouses near its airport. Obviously a bit dependent on the urban geography, but...

[mhays]

Warehouses would need to be build ground-up, but being near the runway sounds good. Linking rail to these might make sense...but doesn't air freight generally go right to the correct city then locally by truck?

A freight yard not related to the airport would need massive acreage as well as existing (or easy links to) main rail lines. Maybe in some cases. That seems more likely for an abandoned airport rather than one getting rid of portions.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by pesto

A decline in demand for regional travel means we should expand regional passenger railroads?

It's the cost of jet fuel. Airlines are phasing out regional jets because they're too expensive to run, not because of a lack of market.

Trains are cheaper, fuel-wise, and their ridership is growing.