Airport To Buy New Sign System $2.4 Million Project Will Keep Track Of Flights And Luggage
A $2.4 million communications system will help travelers find their luggage, their flights and their relatives at Spokane International Airport.
The Spokane Airport Board on Wednesday decided to spend the money on computerized signs to better track departures and arrivals of commercial flights and luggage. It will be a vast improvement from the reader boards provided by individual airlines, said airport spokesman Todd Woodard.
“Every time you call, the flight’s on time. We’ve all come out here and found that that was not the case,” Woodard said.
The new system will list two hours of flights from all airlines on 14 screens scattered across the three concourses. Someone expecting visitors from a certain town at a certain time should be able to find them even if he doesn’t know which airline they’re using, Woodard said.
The package also includes an improved intercom system, and will display messages in writing for people with hearing impairments or screaming children. The current intercom is difficult to hear and does not display messages telling passengers when airplanes are boarding and other important information, Woodard noted.
Passengers will pay for the system from a surcharge of $3 per ticket the airport has collected since 1990. Congress requires that the money be used for airport improvements.
The system should be completed before the Thanksgiving rush, airport staff members said.
In other action Wednesday, the airport board:
Decided to spend $483,000 on a fire truck from Oshkosh Truck Corp.
The new truck will have infrared sensors to locate fire inside airplanes. Another tool, which Oshkosh calls a “snozzle,” can pierce an airplane’s skin and cargo containers to extinguish fires with foam.
The FAA is paying $373,000 of the cost, with the rest covered by the passenger surcharge.
Approved spending $2.8 million to widen Airport Drive from two lanes to a four-lane couplet. The bid doesn’t include landscaping, which is expected to cost an additional $200,000.
Hired an architect to plan restroom improvements. Airport officials said the restrooms last were updated in the 1960s and 1970s and don’t meet federal specifications for wheelchair accessibility.
Hired an architect to plan improvements at the historic Skyway Cafe at Felts Field Airport in the Valley. The cafe has not changed significantly since it opened in 1932.
Airport officials guess it will cost about $130,000 to improve the kitchen and make other changes. The cafe’s owner will pay $50,000.
, DataTimes