NORFOLK, Va. — With parking facilities nearing capacity levels earlier in the year, Norfolk International Airport is working on several upgrades to avoid trouble during the holiday travel season.
Wednesday, ORF reported that October passengers topped 400,000 for the sixth straight month, with 2024's overall passenger count nearly eight percent above 2023 at this time.
Keeping traffic moving in and out of the airport's many parking garages and surface lots begins inside a monitor-filled room feet away from baggage claim.
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“We have eyes and ears on all 30 entrances and exit lanes. The ability to see a problem before it escalates," said Cathy Sutherland, the airport's Parking Operations Manager. "We can solve most [problems] before they even leave.”
Typical problems include traffic jams at ticketing machines, machine malfunctions and passengers having difficulty using the machines.
Responding to every challenge has only gotten more difficult in recent years. In 2022, passenger traffic at Norfolk International Airport topped 4 million for the first time. Around 4.5 million came through the airport in 2023. After 21 years at the airport, Sutherland says the holidays are always busier.
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"Thanksgiving is a big holiday, obviously. We’ll see anywhere from a 15 to 20 percent uptick," she told News 3. “We will have enough parking. It will get tight for sure. We still encourage patrons to go online and pre-book in advance.”
Earlier this year, ORF unveiled online parking reservations to help manage limited spaces during busy travel times and give travelers peace of mind in knowing they would have a spot to park when they arrive. A recently-reopened long-term surface parking lot is also helping ease congestion.
Still, the airport says it's working on new systems to help streamline increasingly-crammed parking facilities, including a new way to count open spaces.
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”The new system uses cameras, so it actually counts the vehicles, rather than right now, it uses a ground-looping system." said Lacy Rose Dickinson, the Customer Experience Manager. "It will be more accurate. We'll get the real count."
Dickinson says that new system will hopefully be up and running before the end of the year and will be available online so travelers can see which parking areas have space before leaving the house.
The airport is also constructing a new cell phone lot where people picking up arrivals can wait until called. The new lot will only be seconds away from the Arrivals curb, as opposed to the current lot, which is further away.
Dickinson says it's to help ensure all customers at the airport have as stress-free of an experience as possible, whether they're flying or not.
“[From] coming over the Norview bridge to how you’re feeling as you’re walking through the building, this is just one step of the journey and hopefully it’s something that it was a good interaction for you," she said.
