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Glynn Airport Terminal Opens to Rave Reviews Passengers Notice a Big Difference Amid Festivities for the $10.3 Million Facility.

Posted on: Thursday, 21 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

BRUNSWICK -- Air passengers began entering Glynn County through its fancy new front door Wednesday with the opening of the new $10.3 million Brunswick-Golden Isles Airport terminal.

As he waited to board his ASA-Delta Connection flight to Atlanta, Scott Smith of St. Simons Island said the new building is a big improvement over what had been there.

"It's really nice. When I first moved down here it was a pretty rough building. It's immaculate in here," Smith said he stood on new carpeting that ran to walls with tile wainscoting. "But even in the trailer next door, [the staff] did an outstanding job."

The original terminal was one passed on by the Navy from the days of the Glynco Naval Air Station. As much of that Spartan 19,500- square-foot building was leveled to make room for the new 33,500- square-foot terminal, the airport operated out of what is generously referred to as a manufactured modular office. The Glynn County Airport Commission had its temporary offices in a remodeled hangar. They are now all together under the same barrel tile roof.

"The ambience is one thing. The functionality is another," said Steve Brian, manager of Airport Commission facilities.

The old building was basically falling apart and maintenance was extremely difficult, he said.

And as he said, "This is your first impression of Brunswick."

The dozen or so passengers on the first flight that arrived at 10 a.m. must figure Brunswick is a very generous place, as city and county leaders and Chamber of Commerce and tourism officials handed them gift baskets.

Airport Commission Chairman Charles Rinkevich said he likes the impression the terminal is likely to give.

"When you arrive, you know you've arrived at a very hospitable place," he said.

Rinkevich said the terminal will be good for business, especially with its free parking and convenience.

"Save a 70-mile drive," he said of the alternative. "Anybody that flies out of Jacksonville is missing the boat. It's 37 minutes to Atlanta from here."

Brunswick Mayor Brad Brown expressed identical sentiments.

"After a few times coming through here, nobody will fly out of Jacksonville anymore," he said.

The passengers were impressed, including Carol Ryan of Hattiesburg, Miss., who saw the "before" eight days before she experienced the "after."

"We came in on the old airport and we've leaving from the new one," she said of flying in with 16 family members for a vacation.

"It's wonderful, just wonderful. There wasn't any place to sit in the old one," she said.

At the snack bar near the gates, Carolyn Goodridge opened her laptop computer on a table and logged on to the free wireless Internet service.

"This is nice, very nice," Goodridge said as she punched keys. "Usually, you're just sitting at the gate."

The service works throughout the terminal, said Lisa Balkunas, an airport development manager for Airport Network Solutions of Warwick, R.I. Balkunas was doing demonstrations for passengers Wednesday.

As he waited to hand out gifts to passengers arriving at the gate, Glynn County Commission Chairman Cap Fendig said the terminal was "a long overdue welcome for the visitors to Glynn County."

Fendig expressed gratitude to voters who entrusted the Airport Commission with $500,000 in special purpose 1-cent sales tax revenue as local funding for the project.

Architect Martin Wander arrived too late to greet passengers. That's because he was aboard the flight, which was a surprise to airport officials.

"It was a little stealth arrival," Wander said.

Wander said he took a side trip on the way home from Chicago to Jacksonville, where he works for the architectural firm Reynolds, Smith & Hills Inc.

After arriving to good reviews, Wander said, "How wonderful it is to be the one who thought of this and hear what people say."terry.dickson@jacksonville.com, (912) 264-0405

Source: Florida Times Union

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