ROCHESTER, N.Y. – If you want more direct flights into and out of the Rochester airport, the airport director says you have to stop shopping around.   

About 400 people per day from our area are flying out of Buffalo, Syracuse or New York City instead of Rochester.  It’s called airport leakage and if Rochester can lower its number, more and cheaper flights will come our way.

“We capture about 81-82% of travelers that should be flying out of Rochester,” explains Airport Director, Andy Moore.  That’s a good number but it also means they lose, or “leak” the other 18% which amounts to about 140,000 people a year.

“The airlines track all this information and so when we talk about over 400 passengers a day going to other airports whether it’s Buffalo, Toronto, Syracuse, NYC, even Pittsburgh or Cleveland… they are telling the airlines you don’t need to invest in Rochester which is a message that we’re trying to correct,” says Moore.

Rochester is geographically challenged based on where it’s physically located.  Both Buffalo and Syracuse get the benefit of Canadian travelers, who come down to fly out– Rochester doesn’t.  The Buffalo Airport reports that it welcomes more than 2 million travelers from Canada annually. 

Donna Brophy of Victor used to travel 8-10 times a year. “We love this airport because it’s small and it’s so convenient, it’s easy to get in and out of but we absolutely would appreciate more direct flights for sure,” she says.

For Ida Caviness of Macedon, it’s about price. “I have two sons that are on college and I would say every couple of months I am looking for flights to fly them, one who is in Cleveland and the other who is in Lansing Michigan so, I always have to look for that deal,” she tells News10NBC. 

The Airport Director understands but offers one other thing to consider if you’re leaving town in car to get to a plane. “Our parking is cheaper than an airport like Buffalo, it’s convenient to get in and out, we have a great track record of safety and security,” says Moore.

Parking rates in Buffalo are $28/day in the garage, $16/day for preferred parking and $11/day in the economy lot.  

Parking rates in Syracuse are $18/day in the garage, $13/day for preferred parking and $10/day in the economy lot.

Parking rates in Rochester are $16/day in the garage and $8/day in the economy lot.   

“The community decides the level of air service so, the more passengers we can get coming through Rochester, it then tells the airlines that they need to invest in Rochester and that means more frequencies, more destinations and ultimately that will result in lower airfare costs,” says Moore. 

Over the last several years, the state has spent millions of your tax dollars to almost completely renovate the Rochester airport. The lower level is still under construction. Moore says bringing in more flights is not a matter of needing more space or more runways, just more people who are from here, to use their local airport.

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