Airlines are increasingly focused on getting passengers to pay for upgraded seats, more baggage space or extra legroom as airline costs keep climbing, Columbus Regional Airport Authority CEO and President Daren Griffin said.
“There’s no question that the airline emphasis on premium is their effort to generate the profit that they need to on every aircraft. As you see, the price of fuel that goes up for a car goes up for an aircraft even more significantly. And this has not been a good year for that,” Griffin said at a Columbus Metropolitan Club panel forum on July 15.
The forum focused on the future of aviation and the business of air travel in central Ohio. Griffin was joined on the panel by Deborah Scherer, senior vice president of global trade & investment at One Columbus. NBC4 (WCMH-TV) anchor Jerod Smalley moderated the panel.
A central focus of their conversation was John Glenn Columbus International Airport’s new $2 billion terminal that is currently under construction, with an expected opening in early 2029. The new terminal will have 36 gates, a single security checkpoint and concourse, and will be able to host larger aircraft. It will also have a new parking garage and a new public safety building.
Griffin previously gave The Dispatch a full rundown on the new terminal, but he gave the Metropolitan Club crowd a previously unreported tidbit during the panel: The airport authority is looking to bring a new in-line baggage screening system to the new terminal that will allow travelers to just walk through a scanning machine, Griffin said.
“The slowest part of your screening process is soon to become how quickly you can put your belt and jacket back on because your bag will be waiting for you,” he said.
Most airports do not have this technology yet, but Griffin said the new terminal allows the airport authority to ask the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for the best equipment they have.
“I’m confident that we have their support on that,” he said.
Griffin also told the crowd that the airport authority was open to bringing a light rail system or other train into the new terminal. Travelers should also get ready for advanced air mobility vehicles, electric aircraft that can take off vertically and fly lower than airplanes, Griffin said.
“That is also something that we think about, whether it’s rail or autonomous vehicles or a piloted aircraft that you can lift off of from the top of a parking garage. All of those things are in our future to some extent,” he said.
Transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus airport CEO talks airport business, future of air travel
Reporting by Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
