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Airport Has Cell-Phone Waiting Area; Spot Will Help People Picking Up Incoming Passengers

Posted on: Friday, 9 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Following a trend occurring at airports nationwide, the Albuquerque International Sunport has opened a "cell-phone waiting area" for people picking up incoming passengers.

It's intended to keep drivers from parking in front of the terminal or from driving "around and around" while they wait for arriving passengers.

At a cell-phone waiting area, explained city Aviation Department Director Mike Rice, "you can go in and sit and wait until your traveling friend can call you." Then, you can pick up your friend curbside at the terminal.

"Many of the airports around the country are doing this," Rice said. "It eliminates us having to keep running people off and making them mad."

Baltimore/Washington International Airport, California's San Jose International and Long Beach airports, and the Ohio's Akron-Canton Airport have opened similar waiting areas in the past two years.

Signs letting people know about the waiting area went up last week, and people have been quick to use it, said Jim Hinde, planning manager with the Aviation Department.

The designated cell-phone waiting area parking lot can be found along Girard SE, south from Gibson. There are also two observation areas at the airport that can be used as cell phone waiting areas, Rice said.

In the future, the cell phone lot could be equipped with information signs to update drivers about arriving flights and a wi- fi connection for computer access, which could also allow drivers to track airplane arrival times, he said.

Source: Albuquerque Journal

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